Don't Call It a Comeback
by NeoNails
Summary: 30 kisses, 30 prompts, all Auggie/Annie. I seriously updated, folks! With more to come! Tonight's feature: The road home.
1. Memory

This is probably going to be one of the longest notes I've ever written for a fic, but I swear it's because it's necessary. This is going to be one of my big projects for _CA_, even if it doesn't seem it at the moment. I decided about a month ago (seriously, this particular oneshot was finished on like July 25) that I wanted to challenge myself because I had so many ideas for this fandom I didn't know what to do.

Enter LiveJournal's **30_Kisses**.

I should mention right now that I'm not a LiveJournal kinda girl- NO disrespect to ANY ff writers out there, because I can appreciate anyone that wants to keep their readers updated. I just stick to that tiny little space in my ff profile, because it's easy to remember considering I'm almost always on . I'm never actually on LiveJournal, except when I'm looking for challenges like this one.

I didn't actually expect to get as much inspiration as I did for those 30 prompts, but it's been about 3 weeks and I've completed about 7 and a half prompts. Because so many were finished and I really hate leaving you guys hanging for so long (despite what you guys have seen in this fandom, for the most part I'm usually very, very fickle and it can sometimes take me _ages_ to complete a simple challege) I have decided that every Friday, I will post a new oneshot/drabble thing for this fic. There are so many completed, I'm hoping that even if I DO get behind at some point I'll still have an extra week or two to catch up.

As one last warning, this first fic isn't really rated M- that WILL happen soon (like 2 or 3 weeks from now), just not here- so the whole thing is rated M, but I'll warn everybody at the beginning of each chapter what I would give the rating so if anyone doesn't want to read anything M-rated, they can just skip the chapter for that week. :)

I would say this first oneshot would only be something along the lines of a hard T, like PG-16 or something. I can never remember the difference between limes and lemons, but this is _fairly_ clean. Nothing outright explicit (yet).

(Yup. Officially the longest note ever.)

$4$

**Theme:** #22 – Cradle.

_Sun lights up the daytime  
__Moon lights up the night  
__I light up when you call my name and  
__You know I'm gonna treat you right_

- "Fever," by A Fine Frenzy

**

* * *

**

"Here ya go, one pint for me and one for you," Annie said with a carefree grin, setting down the two heavy glass mugs of beer. Her closest friend and somewhat mentor, Auggie Anderson, felt gingerly across the table until his fingers collided with the drink.

She sat down at the small corner table next to him and took a long drink from her beer, leaning back against the chair. Every once in a while, she marveled a little bit at how well Auggie had adapted. She would never tell him this, but sometimes she was pretty sure he had a better grasp on life than she would ever hope to achieve herself.

"You mind passing over some peanuts?" He asked after a few beats of comfortable silence. "As much as I'm not a fan of food that has been touched by an unknown number of people, I missed lunch working on that Israeli cipher."

Annie chuckled but leaned forward, dragging the small bowl of peanuts over to them. "I like bar peanuts, regardless of any health risks," she said, grabbing a handful and popping them in her mouth. "But how was that cipher thingy? It seemed like you were working on it all day."

"I was," he corrected her with a grimace, picking up his beer and taking a sip. "And it was a bitch. I thought we were never going to finish. Thank God Stu and I figured out that reverse algorithm to crack the code. Otherwise I'd still be working."

"I love how you seem to think I understand any of what you just said," she said, laughing to herself. Auggie hadn't eaten any peanuts or made any movement for the bowl, so without thinking she grabbed his free hand and moved it until his fingers touched the bowl's rim.

However, instead of picking up some peanuts, a strange emotion crossed Auggie's face and he shifted, his fingers loosely wrapping around her slender wrist, thumb stroking her palm. "You have soft skin," he commented quietly.

She let out a nervous little laugh, watching his expression closely. "Thanks?" she replied, wondering when her voice had suddenly gotten so shaky. Her smile sort of melted away when his thumb arced up, brushing the sensitive skin of the webbing between her thumb and pointer finger.

Her coffee-colored eyes watched closely as his fingertips travelled up from the thin skin on the inside of her wrist, tracing the lines and indentations on her palm, following all the way to her fingertips and her short, neat fingernails. Her breath caught just the tiniest bit when he dragged his own fingertips down her fingers, his rough calluses catching on her skin.

He was reading her like he read the Braille on his computer, Annie realized distantly in the back of her mind. Auggie was careful, meticulous, taking in every mark on her hand, almost like he was trying to commit it to memory. When her fingers twitched as he brushed over the tiny bone sticking out of her wrist, he paused, repeating the action so she would do it again.

It was wrong, but she suddenly had a very good idea of what he would be like in bed. Auggie didn't have Conrad's old manwhore-ish reputation, but he was a bit of a flirt. She had heard more than her fair share around the water cooler and she knew he could have his fair pick of the women in the CIA, 'disability' or no.

And it was difficult to forget the way he felt when they sparred. He was strong, a solid frame made up with more muscles than she could count.

Annie was trying to not find the whole situation strangely erotic, the way he was cradling her hand, leisurely tracing patterns into her palm, raising involuntary goosebumps along her arms. It took little effort to imagine the way his hands would feel tracing along her sides or pressing into her hips. She was positive there were all kinds of seriously inappropriate uses for his talented fingers.

Abruptly wrapping her hand around Auggie's fingers, she stopped his way too distracting movements and pulled his hand until it was level with her face. "I think you have my hand memorized by now," she said, barely above a whisper. His eyes were unfocused as he looked in her direction, but she could see the much stronger emotion on his face and realized she wasn't the only having a hard time keeping herself in check.

"Maybe I could memorize something else next?" He sounded hopeful, but she heard the gravelly undercurrent in his voice that sent pleasant shocks down her spine.

She grinned, but she knew he couldn't see it, so she tugged his hand a little closer, planting a soft kiss on the inside of his palm. "I think I'd like that."

$4$

Like I said, not completely explicit but still not exactly that something I would consider kosher for the kiddies to read. XD I'll continue to give warnings at the beginning of each chapter to say about what rating I would give it. I would rather not scare off such faithful readers.

In case anyone's curious, next Friday's prompt is going to be **Red**. ;)

Hope you liked it!


	2. Wear It Well

I swear this week took forever to finally roll around to Friday. I was planning on waiting until later in the day to post this (especially after uploading my most recent ep-oneshot just a couple hours ago XD) but I figured since I was still awake and currently I have 10 of these already completed, it wouldn't hurt to upload this one a little earlier than planned.

I did not expect to crank these out as quickly as I have been, but I feel like this is a good sign. On Sunday I'm finally going to head back to school, and I'm positive I'll be distracted as usual (though not distracted enough to miss this week's Auggie episode of _CA_, oh, hellll no) which means my writing will probably slack off. :( Luckily, this series will definitely not be affected!

Like last week, this prompt isn't M-rated, but I'd say it's a bit beyond PG-13.

$4$

**Theme: **19. Red

_I want you  
__When the sun comes up  
__I wanna make you mine  
__I wanna make it count  
__I want you_

- "I Want You," by Fefe Dobson

* * *

There was just something about the color red that brought out the worst in Annie Walker.

In eighth grade, minutes after trying on her mother's favorite Revlon Red Passion lipstick, she was grounded for the weekend after shoving Danielle (she _had_ taken the last Ring Ding and told her she had a fish mouth, after all).

In eleventh grade, after wearing the cutest little red sundress to school, she was suspended for two days for breaking Bobby Gardner's nose (he _had_ tried to shove his hand up her skirt, after all).

The summer before her sophomore year at college, after buying her very first pair of (smokin' hot red) Christian Louboutin pumps, she hotwired her ex-boyfriend's (cherry red) vintage '74 Mustang and took off for a joyride (he _had_ just humiliated her publicly by dumping her and then shoving his tongue down Macy Bennet's throat).

Annie had a very longstanding history with the color red, but she could never actually to manage to remove it from her wardrobe. No matter what happened, it was still one her favorite colors.

This changed a little when she joined the CIA. She had to wear business clothes, pencil skirts and suits and nice blouses. She mostly stuck to neutral colors, blacks and whites and grays occasionally punctuated by a blue top or a pair of pink heels.

That was until she went shopping with Danielle one weekend, a few months after she had been working there. Danielle was taking the kids out to buy new clothes for school, and it was just by happenstance that she stumbled upon the perfect little pencil skirt she had ever seen.

Smoothing the material against her thighs, she pulled the glass door open, walking into Auggie's computer haven of an office. He was working on something, headphones on and fingers flying across the keys. She stayed by the door, hesitating at the thought of disturbing him and his work.

A few minutes passed, and she cleared her throat slightly. No response. Another minute went by, and she cleared her throat again, much louder this time. And again, no response.

Were those headphones making him deaf, too?

Clutching a stack of files in one hand, she crossed the room carefully and placed a gentle hand on Auggie's shoulder. Well, she thought it was gentle. Maybe not, considering the way he jumped, throwing off his headphones, and bolted upright.

This would've have been a (more or less) acceptable reaction, had Annie not been leaning over to say something to him just as he had jumped. He bolted upright and turned towards her, but instead managed to collide with her, legs tangling, falling to the floor in an ungraceful heap.

"Son of a bitch," she groaned, moving very gingerly after a few seconds of stunned silence. "I seriously need to stop wearing red. It just screws with me every time."

"Any reason in particular you decided to sneak up on me?" he asked into her shoulder, sounding just about as pained as she was feeling.

"There was no sneaking!" she said, letting out another groan. "I touched your shoulder and you tackled me like a friggin' linebacker!" Shifting slightly, she moved her knee so Auggie's surprisingly heavy (but more surprisingly comforting) body wasn't crushing it.

"You surprised me," he defended weakly, one of his hands going for her thigh so she would stop squirming so much. When his fingers wrapped around the outside of her leg, he froze. "What are you wearing?" he asked quietly, humor gone.

Glancing up at him, Annie finally got a good look at their precarious position on the floor. Somehow, he had wound up between her legs, and her adorable little pencil skirt had ridden way, _way_ up, leaving Auggie only holding onto skin. Clearing her throat, she said, "Umm, a red pencil skirt that's kinda hiked up a little bit right now."

He laughed into her ear, moving to prop himself up on his elbow and sort of forcing her to wrap one arm around his shoulder. This was getting seriously dangerous, because she could feel his thumb swiping the skin of her thigh, seemingly trying to find where her skirt actually started (she wasn't sure if she wanted him to find it or not). "Red, eh?" he asked, moving his head slowly so he could (sort of) look her in the eye. "I bet you look great in red."

She grinned, and she was pretty sure he knew she was grinning because he dropped his head closer to hers and slid his fingers up, splaying across the top of her thigh and causing her to become breathless for a whole new reason. "I always liked a girl in red," he whispered, lips barely brushing hers as he spoke.

His grin grew wider when her knee rode up a little higher involuntarily, and she wet her lips, trying to get the shreds of her sanity back under control.

"I'll make sure to wear it more often."

$4$

Again, not M-rated, but still pretty racy stuff. Yes, I am aware that I'm a sick person. At least you guys seem to like what I have to write! XD

Next week's prompt is **If only I could make you mine**. Hmmm, sounds like it could be a downer... ;)


	3. Do It Right

This was a weird one, because (in my opinion) it was a little on the sad side. Still kinda smutty (again, I'd give it like the PG-16 rating), but not quite as peppy as my other work in _CA_. This is my odd take on the whole Ben Thing, but it's not really covered all that much because this was (techinically) my first take at an Auggie-centric fic, having written this way before everything else you've seen in terms of oneshots. XD

Oh, and I know we've finally seen Auggie's apartment this past Tusday (1.07), but this was written over a month ago so you'll have to forgive any glaring inconsistencies.

$4$

**Theme: **26. If only I could make you mine

_Make a fool of myself when you hang around  
__When you're gone I'm a match that's burnin' out  
__Caught up in, should've done  
__What I said I was goin' to do_

- "Damned If I Do Ya (Damned if I Don't)," by All Time Low

**

* * *

**

Annie tasted better than she smelled.

It wasn't exactly poet laureate material, but it was the first coherent thought that crossed his mind in what felt like hours, but had really only been minutes.

Auggie hadn't made any plans for tonight, like most nights, which usually meant he would spend his time half-listening to TV Land, half listening to the dulcet sounds of Charles Mingus, and reading a few of his favorite Braille books in between.

When his black Labrador, Othello, sat up during the middle of a rerun of _Everybody Loves Raymond _and barked softly, Auggie knew something was up. People didn't really knock on his door past 7 unless it was an emergency.

"Auggie?" A soft voice said through the door, knocking a few times. It only took a second to recognize the voice as Annie's, though why she would want to visit him on a random Tuesday night was beyond him.

Picking up his cane, he stood up and walked over to his front door. He had the layout to his house long since memorized, but he still liked to keep the cane on him just in case. Unlocking the door and pulling it open, he smiled and said, "Hey, Annie, what's up?"

He could tell there was something wrong almost immediately. There was a light, salty smell that undercut her soft grapefruit perfume, and she was making a quiet noise every time she breathed in, something that he eventually recognized as sniffling. She was crying. _Annie_ was crying.

"Hey, hey," he said softly, feeling for her shoulder and ushering her into his house, closing the door behind her. "What's going on? What happened?"

She sniffled again, and he felt and heard her wipe her eyes with the back of her hand. Instead of responding, though, her tiny, slender hands pressed against his shoulders, pushing him until his back hit the door. It was only when her mouth covered his in a greedy, passionate kiss that it finally sunk in what was going on.

She tasted sweet, sweeter than the haunting grapefruit perfume she loved to wear, but that sweetness was cut by salty tears. She was still crying, but she was kissing him.

He pulled his head back, accidentally knocking it back against the door- that was going to bruise later. "Annie," he said, speaking a lot stronger and clearer than he thought he would be capable. "Annie, what happened to you? Why are you crying?" To emphasize his point he brought his hand up to her neck, following the length of smooth, unmarred skin to cup the side of her face, thumb brushing the wet tracks on her cheekbone.

Auggie knew why, though. He wasn't sure what made him think about it, but he knew without a doubt that this had everything to do with that guy that left her broken hearted in Sri Lanka. Not that that ever made any sense to him- he could never figure out why someone would want to leave her behind.

She leaned into him, seemingly needing the contact, and let out another sniffle that sounded closer to a whimper. "C-can you not ask me any questions?" she said, and the sound was so damn _sad_ to his ears that it was hard to not feel his heart breaking along with her.

He sighed but nodded, wiping the fresh tears that slid down her face. "What do you want me to do then?"

"Just," Annie screwed her eyes shut, he could feel it the way the muscles on her face tightened, and she let out a tiny, choked sob. "Just-" She pressed her lips to his, transferring more salty tears. "_please_."

In that moment, at that sad, pained little _please_,Auggie realized that she could ask him to eat glass out of the palm of her hand- and he would, no question.

When she kissed him again, even needier than before, he gave up without complaint. He found her slim waist and wrapped his arm around it, spinning her around so that she was the one pinned to the door. Her fingers were fisting in his t-shirt, trying in vain to drag him even closer as he nipped her bottom lip, soothing the bite with his tongue.

She whimpered, but he knew without a doubt that it was for a completely different reason now. He pulled back a little, ignoring her noise of protest as he pressed kisses down her jaw and neck. When she whimpered his name, he lost focus, tracing her fluttering pulse point with his tongue and teeth.

"Auggie," Annie repeated, but this time it came out as a heady moan that was pure music to his ears. Her fingers laced through his hair, encouraging him. Hooking his hands under her thighs, he pulled her up higher against the door and allowing her the chance to wrap her lean legs around his waist.

He moved his head from her neck, finding her mouth and pressing a gentle kiss. "Say my name again," he said, tongue sliding easily against her own. He was pretty sure she was smiling, but she complied, saying his name once more and causing him to let out a low groan.

Breaking the kiss once more, he rested his forehead against hers, inhaling raggedly. He was satisfied to hear that she wasn't breathing any more evenly than he was. Sliding a hand up to cup her jaw again, he brushed her messed hair out of her face. "We're not sleeping together," he said when he could finally get the brain cells together to complete a sentence.

Annie froze in his arms, and he could hear the soft _thud_ as the back of her head hit the door. "Wha- what?" she asked, fingers slipping out of his hair and digging into his shoulders.

"You're going to take my bed, and I'll take the couch," he said, sounding way more confident in himself than he felt. "I'm not going to take advantage of you right now."

"B-but- you're not-"

He smiled wryly, shaking his head. "Yes, I would. You're still hurting from that guy in Sri Lanka," he said, cupping her chin with both hands. "I know it's true, don't bother disagreeing."

She made this little noise of protest in the back of her throat, but didn't try to argue with him. They both knew he was right, no matter how much every cell in his body was begging him to kiss her again and take back everything he had just said.

As they disentangled from each other's arms, Auggie felt the need to say one last thing, just so she would _know_ he would never desert her like that prick.

When he heard her heels of her sensible pumps hit the hardwood floor, he let his hands settle on her hips and said, "But when you're finally over him, and if you still want to, we're going to do this the right way."

$4$

I'm not a fan of this ending, but I needed to stop it somewhere and after I hit this line I realized I didn't have a cleaner way to end it.

Next week's prompt will be: **Good Night**. I'll keep it vague but I promise it's significantly happier than this week's!


	4. Passing Time

Officially, this prompt was actually supposed to come out in another two weeks from now (because it was the 6th random prompt I picked) and up until now I've been going in the order I wrote them like a month ago, but a bunch of you mentioned that you wanted to see me actually fulfill my M-rated promise, and since this was already finished and I love you guys... well, I figured it couldn't hurt to release it a little early. ;)

So, instead of reading what was supposed to be an extra-fluffy oneshot drabble thing that was technically prompt 4, you guys get this significantly more smutty prompt with #4 taking #6's place in two weeks. Now no one can claim I'm denying them of their rightly requested M-rated prompt.

Let it be known I really don't do a lot of M stuff (just a couple of fics here and there over the years), so this is my disclaimer/apology if it sounds in any way awkward or out of place.

$4$

**Theme: **6. The space between dream and reality

_You got me lookin' up  
__Even when I'm fallin' down  
__You got me crawlin' out of my skin_

- "Stoppin' the Love," by KT Tunstall

**

* * *

**

This was bliss. Unadulterated, pure, no questions bliss. She had forgotten what it was like, this toe-curling, spine-tingling madness, how it felt to be linked so intimately with another person. She tipped her back against the pillows, exposing the smooth skin of her throat.

His head was buried in the crook of her neck, dark hair just in her line of sight. When his teeth nipped her collarbone, her hips jerked instinctually, legs wrapping a little tighter around his waist. She was satisfied to hear his guttural groan in her ear, lips curving into an automatic smirk as his voice caused another shiver to slide through her body.

Except… there was something off. His voice was different, as was the rest of him. He was lankier, leaner, more muscle as she dug her fingertips into the strong planes on his back. It wasn't the same, it was unlike everything else, it was _better_…

His lips and tongue followed up the long lines of her neck, her jaw, finally, after what felt like torturously long his mouth met hers, and she didn't bother holding back the low moan as their tongues tangled together, lost in lust and passion something more serious than anything else that she wasn't sure she wanted to name just yet.

He pulled back, dropping his head against hers, whispering her name between panted breaths, and with each utterance she felt her body clench a bit more, drawing closer and closer to that ultimate release.

She let her fingers wander, along his strong, sharp jaw, over the defined cleft on his chin, across his high cheekbones, all the while staring into his dark, unfocused eyes, brushing his longish, messy hair from his forehead. Without meaning to, his name tumbled from her lips on a sigh.

"_Auggie…_"

Annie jolted upright, panting heavily as she stared out at her dark, empty bedroom. The sheets were twisted around her legs from tossing and turning, damp with sweat. Worse still, there was a lingering, throbbing ache between her legs that had no right to be there given her dream.

Oh dear God, her dream…

Drawing her knees up to her chest, she propped up her elbows and ran both hands through her curly hair. She had a dirty, dirty dream about her best friend. Not Ben, which _would_ have made sense (and which had happened once or twice already), but Auggie, the one person in CIA she could rely on no matter what.

And here she was, letting her subconscious taunt her with images of them together, wrapped around him in the best of ways, feeling him buried inside her and making her writhe with pleasure.

Annie groaned at the fuzzy not-memory, falling back and letting her head flop against the pillows. She glanced over at the small digital clock on her nightstand, squinting slightly until the jumbled numbers formed a time. 3:58.

She grabbed the nearest pillow and covered her face with it. She only had a few hours left before it was time to get up for work. Maybe she would be able to fall back asleep.

Ha.

**

* * *

**

"Hey, Annie, you mind passing the cream?"

For far from the first time that day, Annie jumped, distracted by her own thoughts and a sick sense of guilt for something that she didn't do (but sure as hell couldn't stop thinking about now).

She was friggin' lucky Auggie couldn't see her, because if he had, he definitely would've noticed the way she couldn't quite meet his eyeline the whole day, not to mention how a flush bloomed on her cheeks any time he came within ten feet of her. She felt like an idiot, but no matter what she couldn't actually get her shit together around him.

"S-sure," she stammered lamely. She picked up the small creamer, not even looking in his direction as she slid it across the small counter in the even smaller Agency kitchen directly in front of him.

Auggie's fingers brushed accidentally against hers as he picked up the creamer, and she froze, eyes wide. Because her day sucked so much already, his finely tuned senses more than picked up on her uneasiness. "Why so jittery today?" he asked, and even from the corner of her eye there was no way she could've missed his knowing smirk.

She glanced at the old analog clock set up over the doorway. 11:13.

Could this day end a _little_ faster?

"I-I'm not jittery," she said, her voice weak. She let out a heavy sigh, setting her almost empty coffee mug on the counter and turned around, resting the small of her back against it. "I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

"Ah, I see." He poured some creamer into his coffee, stirring with a spoon until the coffee turned from a dark black brown to a soft milk chocolate color. "Bad dream?"

_No_. Quite the opposite. Her dream had been amazingly _good_. However, the implications behind that same dream… well, were pretty frickin' horrific.

"Something like that," she finally settled, burying her fingers into her hair and ruining the loose bun she had thrown it in at the beginning of the day.

Auggie took a sip from his coffee, grinning at her obvious tension. "Don't worry about it," he said, his deep voice comforting as ever. It probably would have been more comforting had she not been so busy picturing tackling him to the ground and, you know, ripping his clothes off. With her teeth. "It happens to everyone."

There was a loud, choked sort of half-bark/half-laugh, and it took Annie a few seconds before she realized it had come from her. She breathed in sharply through her nose, cheeks blushing furiously, and tried her hardest to pretend that she hadn't just made an ass of herself in front of him. Again.

He set his coffee down next to hers, head cocked in her direction, a sly smirk on his face. How did he always do that? He may not have been able to see but he was perfectly capable of reading her mind nine times out of ten.

Oh, who the hell was she kidding? It was ten times out of ten, _every time_.

"Did I say something funny?" he said slowly, she could tell by the tilt of his lips that he was waiting for her response, ready to gauge her reaction.

"Nope, nothing funny," she said quickly, pasting on a quick smile to add to the false cheeriness.

He moved closer to her, and the more he invaded her space the more breathless she became. That type of correlation did not bode well for her, especially when he grinned a little wider and whispered, "Liar."

Annie didn't move an inch, mostly because she was afraid of what would happen if she did. "Out of curiosity, was I in this dream?" he asked, like he could read her mind. Which he basically could, which was only making this situation 100-percent more harrowing.

Her eyes were probably the size of snickerdoodles at this point, but she was frozen in place, even as Auggie shifted, resting a casual arm on the other side of her waist against the counter, effectively boxing her in. "N-no," she said, sounding only slightly more confident than she actually felt, which wasn't saying much.

He paused, and even in her utter humiliation she could see the surprise pass over his face. "Lie?" he said, sounding hesitant, something she almost never heard from her confident tech nerd.

It was really difficult to think up a proper response when his fingers started to walk up her side, following the path of the bunched up fabric where her dark grey pencil skirt and her white blouse began. He was just teasing her, she knew it, but that didn't stop her breath from quickening in response to his ministrations.

He didn't miss her hesitation, and he probably noticed the way her pulse was starting to speed up the longer they stood so close together. She could tell by the way he grinned wider and his hand inched up higher on her rib cage. The muscles in her stomach tightened and jumped, and before she could stop herself she leaned forward, closing the short distance with a searing kiss.

It didn't take Auggie long to recover from whatever minor shock he felt, because after only a few seconds his hands were around her waist, pulling her towards him so she was completely pinned between his body and the kitchen counter.

Annie didn't really notice any of this as her hands tangled in his hair of their own volition. Her dream was good- amazing, if she was going to be totally honest- but this… This was so much, infinitely better.

His hands were around her waist, fingers were fisting in her blouse, no doubt wrinkling the fabric, but as she felt it come untucked she couldn't bother to care. Her stupid, maddening dream paled in comparison to reality, and never had she been happier to be so wrong.

He broke the kiss first, drawing back enough without bothering to let her out of his embrace. Not that she was complaining- she didn't want to move from him for a very, very long time.

"So," he said conversationally, as though his voice hadn't gotten rougher and she could tell all too well that she wasn't the only one that was having trouble controlling their, uhh, baser urges. "What else happened in this dream?"

She smiled, albeit shakily, and fixed his hair, which was sticking up a little bit thanks to her running her fingers through it. "I could tell you," she said, ignoring the hitch in her voice. "But I think I would rather show you."

Auggie grinned back at her, nose brushing against hers. "As tempting as that truly sounds, the Agency would probably frown on our behavior," he said, and one hand travelled up the length of her side, cupping her cheek affectionately as his thumb traced the corner of her mouth. "They're probably frowning on our behavior right now."

"Well, you've never been to my guest house before," she said, trying to tamp down her excitement as he traced her bottom lip. "I mean, if you don't mind, after work…"

"I don't mind," he said, and she smiled at how fast he responded. Before she could tease him about it, he caught her lips in a short, chaste kiss, picked up his coffee mug, and headed out of the kitchen.

Annie sagged against the counter, feeling her knees get a little weaker with every passing second. She took another look at the kitchen clock, trying in vain to gather what few shreds of sanity she had left. 11:42.

Could this day please end a _little_ faster?

$4$

Longer than my other drabble/oneshot things, but I liked it simply because it went exactly the way I pictured it. Usually something goes wrong and I wind up going off in a completely different direction and by the end of the story it winds up totally different.

I considered ending this right after Annie wakes up, but I already had this second scene in my mind and I figured I'd be too mean to you guys if I ended it there. So now you guys have more to read! :D

Next week's prompt will be **Violence**! I promise, there's nothing gory. In fact, I somehow managed to make it fluffy and sweet, so you don't have to worry about anything depressing.


	5. Unconditional

Another week has gone by, and another Friday rolls around! I was a space cadet this week, because after heading back to college from visiting my parents, I totally forgot my laptop's charger, so it took a week for it to get back to me through the mail (thank you, ultra-slow college mail system...). That's mostly why I haven't been able to post this week's ep-oneshot. I do have a rough draft in a notebook I whipped up while in class, but that still has to be copied on to a Word doc so expect it by Sunday-Monday-ish. :)

Also, I keep forgetting to mention this, but not all of my prompts will always have the prompt word _exactly_ in the fic. Some of them (**Red** comes to mind) will have the prompt repeated over and over again, but with others I used more the concept than the word. I fully apologize if that bothers any of you, that's just how I write. XD

$4$

**Theme:** 21. Violence (Or Pillage/Plunder; Extortion)

_Can't you see?  
__There's a feeling that's come over me  
__Close my eyes  
__You're the only one that leaves me  
__Completely breathless_

- "You Set Me Free," by Michelle Branch

**

* * *

**

"That was dangerous, and reckless, and- and _stupid_, and I cannot believe you actually _thought_ to try it!"

Annie let out a distraught huff of air, crumpling up the discarded bloodied button-down and tossing it haphazardly across the room. They were standing in the guest house bathroom, and it wasn't fair how Auggie seemed perfectly in place among her toiletries and half empty bottles of lotion and shampoo and conditioner. He looked like he belonged there, like it was completely natural for him to be standing there in jeans and a t-shirt, leaning against her sink- even if he looked like hell.

"You keep saying stuff like that, you're going to become Joan," he replied, resting his hands behind him on either side of the porcelain.

It wasn't fair. He wasn't supposed to look so good in her bathroom. She was mad at him, dammit, because he was an idiot and he scared the crap out of her and she didn't need another guy that was going to do reckless shit and leave her high and dry. "Don't even start," she snapped, snatching the first aid kit that was resting on the closed toilet seat lid. "You went off the rails without saying _anything_ to _any_ of us!"

She quickly unraveled the roll of gauze, trying to decide which wound was worse. There was a really nasty gash high on his forehead that she had already covered with a wide bandage and his bangs, still partially matted with blood, hid most of the wound. The same couldn't be said for the wound trickling blood on his forearm, even with the poor scrap of fabric he had ripped from the discarded button-down covering the cut.

He was covered in bruises and blood, yet he still found reason to smile with his split bottom lip. She let a renewed growl of frustration at that, tossing the unraveled gauze aside to grab the cotton balls and antiseptic. "You made it even friggin' _better_ by leaving all of your equipment behind so we had _no_ way to contact you!" she hissed through clenched teeth, pouring antiseptic on a handful of cotton balls and shoving the crimson fabric out of the way.

Auggie flinched when she pressed the cotton balls mercilessly into the wound, and she knew by the way he set his jaw that he was having a tough time not expressing his pain aloud. In the back of her mind, the tiny little emotional part of Annie wanted to stop, tend to his wounds with a little more compassion because he was one of the most important people in her life and she hated to see him hurting.

"We didn't know where you were, we couldn't talk to you- I-I thought you might be-" Unable to finish the rest of her thought Annie pulled away, backing up until her back hit the wall. She could feel the lump begin to form in the base of her throat, the stinging in the backs of her eyes, the heat that flared across her face.

Finally, for the first time since she had found him after going AWOL for almost 22 hours, Auggie seemed to get why she was so damn upset. He stepped away from the counter, eyebrows drawn tightly together. "Hey," he said, voice gentle and soothing. "Hey there. I was fine. You didn't have to worry."

She shook her head, too busy drowning her own emotions to appreciate that he couldn't actually see her do so. "I-I _did_ worry," she said, unaware that she had dropped the cotton balls at some point, shaking hands coming up to cover her face. "I can't- I already did this, I can't go through someone else leaving me without a warning- I- it hurts too much-"

Before she could say more, he stepped forward until their chests bumped hands coming up and cupping her cheeks in his hands. He kissed her, just as soft and calming as his voice. She responded without meaning to, wrapping her fingers around his strong wrists and kissed him back. She whimpered when his tongue slid against hers and tipped her head back, deepening the kiss further.

She didn't know when she started crying, but she felt his thumbs run over her cheekbones, keeping the tears from spilling down her cheeks. Auggie pulled back, breaking the kiss but resting his forehead against hers. "I'm sorry I left without telling you," he said, and she felt her chest constrict painfully. "I'm not going to be like him. I promise."

More tears were welling up in her eyes, but she didn't break away. She wasn't sure if she would be able to more her legs if she tried. No one at the CIA knew, but after months and months of working, she and Auggie had finally slept together. And then slept together a few times after that.

They weren't in a relationship, but Annie wasn't sleeping with anyone else and she knew he wasn't, either. They were stuck in a weird limbo, not officially together but they had passed the friends line a while ago.

The main problem with all of this boiled down to Annie's emotions. Auggie was one of her best friends, and one of the only people she knew that had become so efficient at knocking down every one of her carefully built walls.

"As long as you still want me here, I'm not going leaving you, Annie Walker," he said, eyes shut. A couple more teardrops leaked out of the corners of her soft brown eyes, and he immediately wiped them away.

"I don't want you to go anywhere," she whispered, gripping his wrists tighter. "Please."

The word was weak and plaintive on her lips, but he didn't say anything, choosing to kiss her again, kiss her tears and sorrow and fear were gone, until it was just them again, tongues tangled, bodies connected in the best of ways.

Eventually, they stopped, long enough for Annie to tend to his wounds, cleaning and wrapping up the cuts and bruises, after which they went right back where they started, lovingly peeling off layers of clothing, gently tending to each other's needs. It was a balm, healing the old wounds they had dredged up in one another, in between the moans and soft words whispered between white sheets.

When it was over, they lay in her bed, bodies twined together, for the first time in a long time she was able to breathe a sigh of relief, relaxed with the knowledge she had finally found someone that she was able to trust, and one day no doubt love, unconditionally.

$4$

This was such a major downer, but I really liked it. It was one of those few storylines that I was just able to sit down and write without much effort or difficulty. I know it was really sad, but I managed to turn it out around in the end (well, kinda). My only major fear was that I didn't want it to seem too out of character and/or awkward. I hate tackling the whole Ben Mercer thing 'cuz I'm never quite sure if I got it right.


	6. Tripping Over Words

I don't have a whole lot to say regarding this week, but that's mostly because the little bug I complained about earlier has morphed into this monster from hell, complete with a migraine and a super-fun cough.

I do want to thank all of you guys, though! This is first fic for me that's ever gotten over 100 reviews! I really appreciate everything you guys have to say. :D

Oh, and this is technically what I was supposed to post two weeks ago but instead uploaded the smuttier prompt. Just in case you were wondering. ;)

$4$

**Theme:** 24. Good night

_So if I stutter- stutter- stutter  
__Than I feel so- so- so unsexy  
__So maybe I'll just keep my mouth shut  
__At least until you kiss me_

- "Stuttering," by Ben's Brother

**

* * *

**

"You're a professionally trained CIA agent," Auggie said. He'd been on this vein for the last ten minutes, much to Annie's never ending annoyance. "You should be able to handle your sister and a dinner party on your own."

Annie sighed, drumming her fingers impatiently on the steering wheel. "You can quit complaining now," she said, shooting him a pointed glare even though she knew there was no point. "I'm driving you home, it's over."

Like the rest of the night, Auggie was having a hard time keeping in his laughter. "You used me as a shield to hide from your sister's set-up. I'm not letting this one go for a while," he said, a shit-eating grin firmly in place.

"I told you I was sorry," she said, frown fully in place as she flicked on her VW's turn signal and turned down Auggie's street. "But you met that guy. What time he didn't spend staring pointedly at my boobs he droned on about his boring job as an accountant."

"He didn't seem to like me very much," he said with a thoughtful tilt of his head. "Though that easily could have had something to do with the fact that you practically jumped on me every time he leaned close to you."

She let out a huff of air, floundering to scramble together a good response. "You cannot blame me for that!" she said with more than a small whine to her voice. "He had _no_ sense of personal space, or personal bubble, or whatever the hell you call it, _and_ he smelled like tuna! I know there's no way your bloodhound nose could miss that one."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him grimace, unseeing eyes looking away. "No, I couldn't have missed that if I tried," he said. "Where does your sister keep finding these guys?"

"You know, I keep wondering that myself," she said, a genuine smile crossing her face for the first time all night. Figured it would be because of Auggie. "My current theory is that Danielle is setting me up with so many awful guys that I'll give up and start dating someone so she'll leave me alone."

Turning into the small parking lot outside his apartment building, she added, "It's either that or she's secretly working for the FBI and trying to break me."

He laughed, making her laugh as well as she pulled into an empty spot and parked her car. "Your sister would make a good FBI agent," he admitted, finding his belt buckle by his hip and unlocking it.

"Oh my God, I'd be so screwed if Danielle was an FBI agent," Annie replied, unlocking her own seatbelt and letting her head fall against the steering wheel. "As it is, I already know I'll be getting the third degree for bringing you along."

Cocking his head in her direction, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "Why?" he asked, a small frown settling on his face. "Did she not like me?"

Sitting back in her seat, she wrapped her hand around his wrist and pressed comfortingly. "No, of course not," she said. "She's going to interrogate me because I brought home a nice guy from work that I insisted was only a friend and then proceeded to hide behind him all night from the guy I was _actually_ on a date with." She let out a slow breath of air after saying everything in such a rush.

Turning off her car and pulling the key out of the ignition, she quickly slid out of the car and closed the door behind her, walking around her little VW as Auggie stepped out. She looped her arm through his offered elbow. "One thing that she _will _get right is that I'm very, very lucky to have you around and basically willing to be subjected to my crazy sibling and her brood, even if she gets the part about us being a couple wrong."

One corner of Auggie's mouth lifted up as he said, "What if she has them both right?"

Annie sort of stumbled to a stop (as her brain stopped right along with her) as they reached the stoop to his apartment complex. She felt her mouth open and close, sure she was gaping like a beached whale. "…D-does sh-she?" she asked, afraid.

Afraid because she didn't know which answer she would be able to hear. Afraid because she wasn't sure which answer she wanted to hear more. Afraid because…

He chuckled, low and soft, and that gravelly note struck a cord in her, causing her breath to hitch just the tiniest bit. "You tell me," he said, walking around so he was facing her as his free hand slid up her arm, ghosting over her shoulder and gently tracing her jaw. She was entranced, unable to so much as breathe for fear that she might break the spell.

The calloused pads of his fingertips languidly stroked the column of her neck while his thumb brushed over the soft skin of her bottom lip. Her dark eyes widened dramatically as he leaned his head down, closing the dwindling gap between them by pressing a gentle yet heady kiss to her lips.

Her eyes fluttered shut, and just as she was about to kiss him back he pulled away, another cocky grin playing on his face, only this time it seemed pretty justified. "Have a good night, Annie," he said, dropping his hand away from her and turning on his heel, holding his cane loosely in his hand as he walked up the steps. "Looking forward to seeing you Monday."

She definitely couldn't disagree with that.


	7. Negotiations

It sounds bizarre, but for whatever reason my muse really, really likes the **30_kisses** prompts in the 20s, because this is number 7 and so far 6 of them have been random 20-prompts.

This is pure, unadulterated cotton candy fluff. I swear eventually these prompts get plots. Not frequently, but they're there every once in a while. I promise. This one just happens to be completely pointless and I do apologize for that. ;)

And, yes, I'm aware I'm a total tool for picking this song to quote lyrics- but I just couldn't help myself. XD

$4$

**Theme: **23. Candy

_I'm so addicted the lovin' that you're feedin' to me  
__Can't do without, this feelings' got me weak in the knees  
__Body's in withdrawal, every time you take it away  
__Can't you hear me callin', beggin' you to come out and play?_

- "Candy," by Mandy Moore

**

* * *

**

"I've checked out the room. Near as I can tell, there are no bugs in here."

Annie froze in place, guiltily staring at her best friend as he walked out of the bathroom. It was her fault they were here, because if she had been paying attention to the job she wouldn't have accidentally dragged Auggie into this whole mess and forced them to hide in this shitty motel room outside of Moscow.

Of course, that wasn't why she was sitting on the edge of the bed, trying to stealthily hide the small treasure she had found in the tiny convenience store they ran in to hide from the Russian _politsiya_.

It wasn't easy to hide anything when the CIA's best tech op also happened to have a nose that would make any canine proud.

He actually sniffed the air, something that would've totally made her giggle under normal circumstances, and said, "What is that? Are you eating something?"

She tried not to shift around too much as she replied, "No…"

"You're very lucky we didn't meet until after you got off the Farm, because you're _such_ a bad liar around me," he said, laughing lightly as he pulled off his sweater, and she made it a point to not stare at his abs when his black t-shirt rode up. Well, she didn't stare a lot.

"I'm not a bad liar!" she said hotly, ignoring the blush that was blooming on her cheeks as she tried to shove the little plastic bag under her thigh without making any noise. She was failing pretty miserably.

"You're a horrible liar, and you're even worse at being subtle," he said, tossing the sweater on the bed and sitting down next to her. "We both know I smell chocolate. 'Fess up."

Annie frowned, pouting for a few seconds before she finally dropped the bag in his lap. "You know, this is one of those rare times when having a best friend that might as well be a Saint Bernard really sucks."

He was laughing at her, but he paused abruptly when he reached in the bag. An unfairly adorable look of confusion crossed his face as he picked up one of her foil-wrapped morsels. Rolling the tiny object between his fingers, he asked, "Are these… Is this a bag of Hershey's Kisses?"

She grinned guiltily again, and smoothly plucked the candy out of his fingers. "Yes," she said, unwrapping the foil to reveal the little chocolate. "I was hungry and freaked out and I saw the bag of chocolates and I sorta had a moment of weakness." She popped the chocolate into her mouth, more or less pleased with herself.

"I bet Dmitri the convenience store owner is very unhappy with you right now," he said, pulling the bag out of her grasp when she tried to reach for another chocolate.

"Yeah, well, Dmitri the convenience store owner can suck it up 'cuz he's been selling illegal firearms out of the back of his shop. Pretty sure he can afford to lose a bag of Hershey's Kisses." She immediately reached for the chocolates, letting out a noise of protest in the back of her throat when he held it up in the air out of her reach.

Auggie was laughing at her, but she didn't mind so much because him teasing her was better than freaking out that it was her fault her blind best friend's life was at risk in this hole-in-the-wall part of Russia.

"Hey!" Annie said, growling a little bit when she tried to take the bag again, only to have him pull it away from her at the last second. She had no clue how he managed to do that without seeing her.

Realistically, she could've gotten up from her seat on the bed and maybe fought him for it. She might've actually won. However, she was stressed out and tired and the idea of even joke fighting Auggie drained the energy out of her. "Give me back my Hershey's Kisses," she said, making another grab for bag.

Somehow- she really wanted to know how he kept doing that- he pulled away again, but she leaned forward too far without realizing he wasn't leaning back at all. She froze, stopping right before their noses bumped against one another. Now she was supposed to pull back and save face before anything more awkward happened.

But she hesitated, and he knew it. "A kiss for a kiss?" he suggested, voice low.

Her cheeks were stained crimson and she couldn't actually remember how to move. So this was why pretty much every woman he came into contact with practically fell over themselves to get with him. She didn't blame them too much.

He grinned and it was the push she needed to knock her out of her stupor. "I can't believe you just said that!" she crowed, sitting back and slugging him on the arm.

They laughed, but Annie didn't feel back to normal. There was that familiar fluttery feeling in the pit of her stomach that was reminding her that even if he was joking, for a second she took him seriously. "I almost wish I could've seen the shock on your face just now," he said wistfully, helping ease the- imagined?- tension in the room.

She rolled her dark eyes, and reached for the bag in his hand, fishing out another chocolate kiss. "Jerk," she mumbled. Before she could think much on it, she turned her head and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. She could see the smirk start to grow on his face, so she stood up, unwrapping the foil and popping the chocolate into her mouth.

"Oh, and, by the way, you're so sleeping on the floor."

$4$

This was corny and pointless, but it satisfied my need for fluff. Lately most of my oneshot-eps have been on the downer side, so it's nice to just write something fun to satisfy my need for cute flirty banter. :)

And in case anyone is wondering, _politsiya_ is Russian for 'police.'

Next week is **Perfect Blue**, and I do happen to think my take on that prompt was fairly creative, but I guess you guys will have to decide yourselves... Next Friday. :D


	8. Tradition is Tradition

This is kind of a crazy one for me, because typically I don't really dabble in future!fics for _CA_, but I read this prompt, and an idea stuck, but I put it in the backburner because I already had something half-finished in my mind with the last two. When I went back to it today, I didn't have anything else inspiring for the other prompts (shocking, I know) but this was still there.

I'm gonna tread carefully here, because to my (admittedly shoddy) memory this is the first time I've ever tackled this subject, simply because I don't have a lot of personal reference material to go on- understandable, considering I'm still in college, thanks. ;)

$4$

**Theme: **15. Perfect blue

_I know that it's so cliché  
__To tell you that every day  
__I spend with you is the new best day of my life  
__And everyone watchin' us just turns away with disgust  
__It's jealousy, they can see that we've got it goin' on_

- "Must Have Done Something Right," by Relient K

**

* * *

**

"This isn't working!"

Danielle Brooks looked up patiently from the newspaper she was reading at the kitchen table, watching as her little sister stormed into the house. "What's wrong now?" she asked, smiling in a motherly fashion as she sipped from her mug.

Annie's brown eyes were opened exaggeratedly wide, and she shook her head so furiously her curly blonde hair slapped her cheeks. "Everything!" she said dramatically, dumping a pile of papers, folders, and highlighted books on the table. "I swear it would just be easier if I chucked all this crap out the window and called it quits."

She chuckled and folded up the newspaper, sending Annie a patient look. "First of all, our great-aunts would kill you," she said, taking another sip of her tea. "Not to mention that's possibly the dumbest idea I've ever heard you suggest. And that's including the time when you were eight and you wanted to see how many firecrackers it would take to send Astronaut Barbie to the moon."

That got a smile. "I thought Astronaut Barbie deserved to meet the moon people," she said simply, and Danielle had a flashback to her baby sister in their backyard in Germany (or was that when Daddy was stationed in Spain?) covered in dirt with a missing front tooth and clutching a secret stash of firecrackers she had hidden from their parents' Fourth of July party.

"Yeah, well, regardless, I was right back then and I'm right now," Danielle said, pointing at Annie with her mug and a significant look. "You can't just quit because it's gotten tough. That's the whole point of being an adult."

Annie sighed. "But this is all so annoying and stressful!" she said, throwing up her hands. "I don't even know why anyone would be willing to go through with this crap."

Danielle stopped smiling to shoot her sister a pointed glare. Annie seemed to catch on and quickly backtracked. "Sorry," she apologized with a shrug. "But this has always been your kind of thing. I love my Louboutin heels and Armani skirts but this just isn't my cup of tea."

Letting out a laugh, Danielle hopped off the stool and rifled through her cabinets, finally settling on a box of E.L. Fudge cookies. "At least tell me you've gotten your four somethings," she said over her shoulder, opening up the fridge and pulling out the gallon of milk.

Annie grabbed two tall glasses and poured milk into each one. "What are the four somethings?" she asked, sounding kind of worried. "And why do I need them?"

Carrying the box back over to the kitchen table, Danielle said, "Oh, come on. Mom has said it like at least a dozen times before. The four somethings- something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue."

"Here, I'll start you off," she added, pushing her hair back and pulling out her diamond stud earrings. She set them down on the table in front of Annie. "There you go. Something borrowed."

Picking up the cookie sandwich and cleanly splitting it in half, Annie regarded her sister with wide eyes. "Are you sure? Those are your best diamond earrings."

Danielle grinned. "Of course," she said, picking up a cookie of her own and biting it in two. "Besides, I have a pair of great CZ knockoffs that'll work nicely until you give them back. After all, tradition's tradition."

Annie rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. Of all the mom-isms that Danielle loved to spout, that was her favorite and she always found a reason to recite, whether it was to her husband or her daughters or (especially) her baby sister.

She polished off the two halves of the cookie, and then took the diamond earrings and put them in her jeans' pocket. "Thank you," Annie said, smiling gratefully. "Now I just need to find the other three and maybe there'll be some hope."

At that moment, Mike walked into the kitchen, grinning like an idiot. Behind him trailed in Auggie Anderson, carrying what looked like a big folded up tarp. Danielle and Annie both paused, exchanging hesitant looks. "Mike, what the hell is that?" Danielle finally asked, setting down her cookie.

"I took Aug out and we got the stuff you asked for," Mike said, a dopey grin still plastered on his face. He looked like Katia and Chloe on Christmas Eve. "And then we went to the hardware store because I want to build that fire pit outside-" oh, sweet Jesus, she forgot about that, she was going to have to put the fire marshals on speed dial, "-and we told Mr. Feeney about Auggie and Annie and he gave us this for free!"

At that point, Auggie unfolded the tarp thing and held it open in all its glory. At their shocked silence, Auggie looked around, eyes unfocused and said, "It's hideous, isn't it?"

"Definitely," Annie snorted, breaking off a piece of cookie. "But at least it's something blue."

That was… true. The big tarp was certainly blue with white, all caps letters scrawled across it:

ANNIE + AUGGIE  
JUST MARRIED

Danielle was speechless, wondering how her husband could be such an absolute dolt at times. Where the hell were they even going to put that ugly thing? It certainly wasn't going on the back of Annie's little red Volkswagen. It would cover half the car.

"You know, it would be a lot easier if we just eloped," Auggie said conversationally, folding the tarp back up and walking over to where Annie was sitting at the table. Even then, Danielle had to marvel at how well he had adapted to the layout of their house, as if he wasn't even blind.

"That's what I said!"

When she processed what they had said, Danielle rolled her eyes and sighed. "Christ, you two are meant to be together."

Annie laughed, grinning unabashedly as she leaned up and gave her fiancé a kiss. Danielle immediately looked away with a wince. She loved her baby sister, she did, and she was the first to admit how absolutely excited she was for their wedding. But still, they were siblings.

Danielle seeing her little sister making out with anyone (even her soon-to-be husband) was always going to be gross.

$4$

This wasn't really Annie/Auggie heavy (hence the kids' rating :D) but it was just this silly little thing that I had to get out of my system. Very pointless, totally random, and pretty much plot-less, but I still thought it was adorable.

What can I say? I thrive off fluff. XD


	9. Static Cling

Near as I can tell, this is the longest oneshot I've ever written for this collection. I didn't intend it that way, but I had this perfect idea for this prompt and even though it wound up being about three times longer than I'd expected I still say it's totally worth it. XD

$4$

**Theme: **3. Jolt!

_And I can't stop thinkin' about you  
__I can't stop thinkin' about you  
__You never call, what do I do?  
__I can't stop thinkin' about  
__Your love…_

- "Can't Stop," by Maroon 5

**

* * *

**

The first time it happened, she brushed it off as a fluke.

It had been a really bad mission to start, but then Jai had insisted on getting involved and bad had spiraled very quickly into worse. She didn't mind Jai too much, after getting used to his somewhat smarmy personality, but Auggie really despised the guy. She wasn't sure she had ever seen anyone piss Auggie off more than Jai Wilcox.

The only natural solution, of course, was to head to the tavern. Annie had decided pretty early on as the obviously designated driver that she wasn't going to hit the sauce too hard. She needed a beer, maybe two, to take the edge off her week.

She had figured out very early on in their friendship that if he wanted to, Auggie would have no problem drinking her under the table. She was hardly what anyone could consider a lightweight (years spent as an army brat had honed her drinking skills, not to mention taught her a few fun international drinking games), but he could hold his own way better than she ever would have assumed.

Getting him home had turned out to be pretty amusing. Auggie was drunk (_very_ drunk) but she was more than sober enough to appreciate his antics. Luckily, he was a pretty quiet drunk, which was always an improvement over Danielle, who got loud and obnoxious whenever she had more than two glasses of wine.

The major amusement derived mostly from his complete and total lack of coordination, which was amplified quite soundly by his blindness. According to the man himself, blind people made for sloppy drunks.

That was how she wound up leading him up the short steps to his apartment building, an arm slung around his torso, trying not to laugh as he failed at explaining what was supposed to be a hilarious family story about one of his older brothers, Jason. The only hilarious part was how he wasn't able to string together a full sentence without stumbling on a word (or five).

They were almost to his apartment door when Auggie made some kind of comment about her perfume again (she had to buy something new before Christmas), and without thinking, she laughed and called him a flirt.

In hindsight, that probably wasn't her best idea (or possibly her best idea ever), because before she could breathe he had maneuvered them, pinning her against the wall in one smooth move.

"Despite the bull that Jai continually spouts off, that isn't real flirting," he said, and she couldn't do anything but blink owlishly up at him. One of his hands slid through her hair, supporting the back of her head while his other was braced against the wall, keeping him hovering over her. "This is real flirting."

Distantly, she realized she was nodding her head. He smirked in response, letting his head bow and taunting her with his closeness without actually doing anything. He was playing with her hair, rolling the strands between his fingers like he was trying to memorize the texture. He hadn't even done anything so far and she knew her breath was growing more ragged with every passing second.

In that instant, she understood why his ex-girlfriend was so willing to hook up with him again (what? The tech guys talk…) and why every woman in a five-mile radius practically threw themselves at him. That probably wasn't her smartest thought, because it caused heat to flare up in her chest- jealousy, she reminded herself.

Before she could respond, his thumb gently swiped the skin of her bottom lip and, after a tense pause, closed the distance between their mouths.

Her eyes fluttered shut on their own. He was barely kissing her, just testing the waters, but she felt her toes curling, stomach clenching, all those familiar signs that he was doing everything right. And he wasn't even close to sober.

Auggie pulled back, and she heard herself let out a little whine of protest that had no right coming from her lips. He grinned, all mischief, and she had to stop herself from pulling him back for another kiss until she passed out from lack of oxygen.

"'Night, Annie," he said, actually winking as he unlocked his door and slipped inside with a lot more coordination than she would've thought possible ten minutes ago.

She heard the door shut and lock behind him, but she didn't move a muscle, still glued to the wall in shock. She was having trouble breathing evenly, her knees were knocking, and she was fairly certain that if he asked, she'd tumble into his lap without a word.

How the hell had she ever found Jai attractive when she had Auggie around?

**

* * *

**

The second time it happened, she called it a coincidence.

Weeks passed and Auggie acted as usual, joking and making lighthearted cracks at her (she found she couldn't so much as think the word 'flirting' without her whole face lighting up like a Christmas tree light), so she didn't bear questioning what happened outside of his apartment. All that alcohol, there was no way he could have remembered that kiss.

If only she could say the same.

She had managed somehow to keep up a 'normal' façade, joking back with him and pretending that she wasn't totally checking him out every chance she got. But, seriously, was he always that adorable? She didn't remember him always looking so damn good in his dark suits and vests.

She had been mulling this over in her head for probably then twentieth time that day when she wandered into his office, drumming her short fingernails against the folder she held in her hands. "Hey, Aug," she said, using her free hand to comb a few locks of hair that had fallen out of her neat bun out of her face. "Joan told me you have some new intel regarding the Strajevsky case?"

The tech ops office was empty, a rarity for fairly early in the day. Stu was probably out picking up more coffee and that new kid was no doubt hooking up with that one cute barista in the janitor's closet (agents talk, and the Starbucks baristas know all).

"Yeah, I think I cracked that code I was telling you about earlier in the day," he said, bringing up a couple windows on his wide computer screen. She set down the file on his desk to his right, resting her hand on the back of his chair and leaning close over his shoulder to read the documents he had accumulated. "Near as I can tell, Strajevsky really is trying to create another underground KGB unit."

Annie gnawed on her bottom lip, still scanning the information but it felt like none of it was actually making it to her brain. It was so dumb, but was he wearing different cologne? She couldn't remember ever noticing it before. She couldn't remember him smelling so good before.

She was losing her mind. Absolute goner.

"Great," she mumbled, shoving more hair out of her face and leaning unconsciously closer so her chest was almost touching his shoulder. "Just great."

"Think about it this way," he said, grinning wryly and causing her heart to unfairly skip a beat. "It's just another excuse to use some of your never ending supply of language skills."

Auggie tilted his head toward her, but he must've miscalculated because she was a lot closer (unintentionally, of course) than he had thought. The corner of his mouth brushed against hers in the lightest of kisses and she froze in place as a jolt went straight down her spine.

She pulled back, but only to keep herself from doing something dangerous, like straddling him in his chair and tracing the line of his truly delectable jaw with her tongue.

Wow. She really needed therapy.

He cleared his throat, and for a flash of a second she saw true embarrassment cross his face. It was unfairly adorable on him. "Sorry, Annie," he said, flashing her a charming grin that made her chest flutter. "Can't have depth perception if you can't see."

Annie laughed weakly, gripping the back of his chair a little tighter as she feigned innocence, like she hadn't been totally fanaticizing about jumping his bones like it was her job. "It's alright, no trouble," she said, praying she didn't sound as breathy to his overly perceptive ears as it did to hers.

She straightened up then, because it was the only surefire way to kick-start her brain back into gear and out of the gutter. "Thanks for the info," she said breezily, picking up the folder. "If you don't mind printing it out for me and then I can start go-"

_Going over it_, that was what she was about to say when his hand found hers, sliding up her fingers to find her wrist and then tugging her sharply towards him. The abrupt move threw her off-balance, stumbling over her own stilettos and depositing her into his lap.

Surprise flashed across his face again, eyebrows shooting up. "Sorry," he apologized once more. "Didn't expect that to happen. Just didn't want you running off."

It was funny, because not 30 seconds ago she had been fantasizing about this exact same situation, but now that it was happening for real she was at a complete loss. "I'm not going anywhere now," she said weakly, even though if she was truly smart she'd get her ass off his lap and bolt before anyone spotted them through those stupid glass walls, like (oh dear God) Joan. Or Arthur Campbell.

Auggie seemed to reconsider the situation (she noticed he still had a firm grip on her wrist, though), because he leaned back against his chair and swallowed thickly. Maybe she wasn't the only one that felt like she was having major difficulty keeping control. "I'm sorry," he repeated, and the words would have sounded sincere if there wasn't that delicious edge that clouded his tone.

She inhaled slowly, trying to keep her heartbeat under control (he _was_ holding her wrist) and cracked a smile even if he couldn't see it. "It's fine," she said, pressing her hand into his shoulder in a comforting, not-trying-to-feel-him-up kind of way (but how had she never paid more attention to those awesome muscles?). "We're friends. It happens."

She kissed him, maybe not her smartest move, but she was already completely checked out for the day so she couldn't really be expected to make smart judgment calls at this point. It wasn't a serious kiss, just another brush of lips, and it was enough for him to slacken his grip around her wrist so she could stand up. She definitely didn't miss the low groan he made when she kissed him, nor did she miss the way her body responded so well to that beautiful sound.

Annie said her goodbyes, forgetting that she had left her folder on the ground, papers scattered everywhere. Yet again, her knees were practically knocking together, and she was sure if anyone glanced her way they would notice the flush that had spread across her face and the way she wasn't quite breathing evenly.

They had _barely _kissed, and she looked like she was fresh from a roll in the hay. God only knew what she'd look like if they did anything more.

Fuck. Back in the gutter her mind went.

**

* * *

**

The third time it happened… well, to lie to herself at that point would have been a little ridiculous.

It had been two days since that most recent incident, and while they were both good enough agents to not let it affect their work, the tension between them was palpable.

She was attempting to read one of her old favorite Vonnegut books (but failing miserably because she was still too busy freaking out about Auggie) when she heard the knock on the front door to the guest house.

Annie didn't bother checking the peephole before she opened the door, because somehow she just _knew_ who would be standing on the other side. Even still, she found herself murmuring, "How?" as he stood there, looking way too good in a white button-down and slacks.

"I called a cab, I thought we needed to talk," he said, grinning half-heartedly but as usual somehow managing to lower all her defenses in one go. "Can I come in?" She stepped aside without another word, letting him walk into her decent-sized guest house and shutting the door behind him.

The light of his electronic cane hit her torso, and she leaned against the wall. He walked towards her purposely, and she had to tilt her head up as he invaded her space (as if she really minded) and boxed her in between him and the wall.

When he finally, _finally_ kissed her, she let out a sigh of relief, wrapping her arms around his neck. It was about damn time, too, because she had been dying for this for weeks, letting out a happy moan when his tongue slipped into her mouth.

She had to stand on her toes to remain eye level with him (this probably would've been a lot easier if she had been in heels) and he must've sensed that because one of his muscular arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her against him while the other tangled in her hair, messing up the loose braid she had tied it in earlier.

Auggie pulled back first, but didn't let her go. "I've been wanting to do this since that night after the tavern," he growled, causing little jolts of pleasure to course up and down her spine.

Except… "Wait- what?" she dropped her arms from around his neck, resting them on his chest, ready to push away if it was necessary (though she doubted at this point she would find anything worth stopping this). "You- you remembered that night? I thought you were too drunk to remember!"

His grin turned lopsided, dark eyes even more unfocused than usual as he set her back down to the ground, loosening her grip around his waist (she tried and failed to not be disappointed). "I didn't want to scare you off," he said quietly, and he tilted his head, pressing kisses along the line of her throat.

She wanted to stay angry (because he totally screwed with her mind for like two and a half weeks), but regardless of what her brain shouted her body casually ignored it. She shifted her head, giving him more access to available skin. Annie felt his lips curve into a smile against her neck, and her fingers unconsciously fisted in the material of his button-down. "That was unfair," she said, her voice hitching a few times on the syllables and his all-too relaxed ministrations.

Somehow, while she hadn't been paying attention (she _was_ kind of distracted) his crafty hands had slid under her t-shirt, the pads of his fingers sliding up her ribcage in a torturously slow manner, stopping just below the clasp of her bra. "How 'bout I make it up to you?" he whispered into her ear, eliciting tingles of anticipation to erupt all along that side of her body.

Damn him. She had enough by that point. She began nudging him until he began to walk backwards and towards her bedroom. "That sounds significantly fairer," she mumbled breathlessly, catching his lips for another heated kiss.

And without another word, her shirt hit the floor.

$4$

Again, sorry for depriving you guys of more smut, but this was already so ridiculously long as it is, and you pretty much get the point. ;) Any more would've been overkill.


	10. On the Dock

This is a little bit on the short side, to combat how long last week's prompt turned out. But no worries, this is extremely fluffy to make up for it! I really enjoyed writing this prompt because it was another one of those that I saw the line and immediately had a scene in my head.

$4$

**Theme:** 29. The sound of waves

_Sittin' in the mornin' sun  
__I'll be sittin' when the evenin' come  
__Watchin' the ships roll in  
__And then I'll watch 'em roll away again_

- "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay," by Sara Bareilles (originally by Otis Redding)

**

* * *

"What's it look like?"**

Annie smiled, slow and soft, and shifted closer to him, so that the sides their thighs were touching. She needed a little companionship after this operation, and after two and a half years working together, she had learned to almost exclusively expect the best of it from Auggie Anderson.

"Pretty," she said, tilting her head towards him, looking away long enough to study him under the rapidly dimming sky. "Like, all the blues and purples are mixed together with the reds and oranges and yellows. That probably doesn't make any sense, but I don't know. I feel like I can't do this description proper justice."

Auggie smiled back, and she wanted to bury her face in his neck and hug him until she could relax again. The longer they worked together, the longer she felt that overwhelming urge to hug him, coupled with a few far more unsavory desires that she was never, ever going to mention to him or anyone else.

"Your description was fine," he said, pleasantly surprising her by wrapping an arm loosely around her waist, thumb casually brushing her side and creating goosebumps all up and down her right side. "I can't see it, but it's always nice to hear what other people have to say about it combined with my own memories."

She rested her head on his shoulder, appreciating his extra body heat and inexplicable, never ending comfort. "And even though I can't see it," he continued, "I'm just happy be near it. There weren't a lot of chances for me to visit the beach in Illinois growing up, so just getting to hear the sound of the waves crashing and smell the salt air is pretty amazing."

Grinning a little wider, she snuggled into his shoulder. She always secretly loved it whenever Auggie talked about his past, because he rarely ever did so- she made sure to file away every single factoid he told her for future reference. "I always loved the beach, too," she whispered, slipping her own arm around his lower back, craving that extra bit of closeness.

She had been sent out on a mission to New Jersey, of all places, to search for a British hitman that was trying to assassinate a Turkish diplomat and his family that happened to be vacationing at a small beach just outside of Wildwood. Auggie wasn't supposed to get involved, but he had picked possibly the worst weekend in CIA history to decide to have a getaway in south Jersey.

By the end of the operation, she was feeling more than a little battered and bruised, not to mention pretty ticked off that she had managed to nearly get him in harm's way yet again. She knew he was tough, and strong, and probably a better agent than she would ever be (even without sight), but it terrified her every time because she couldn't bear to lose him. If she did she would probably lose her own mind.

She swung her feet, happy to feel the deliciously cool water swirl around her toes. Her abused blue Jimmy Choo slingbacks were sitting on the dock next to Auggie's sharp, shiny black leather shoes. His pants were rolled up past his ankles, his feet almost entirely engulfed in the water thanks to his height.

The sun was setting, nearly done for the day, but the sight of the darkening sky against the sparkling blue-black ocean made her wistful. "I love it when we can get a moment to relax, even if it's not always beachside," she added, unable to fend off a bigger smile when his grip around her waist tightened.

"It's better when it's beachside," he said with a confident nod, causing her to laugh softly. "But it's best when it's with you."

He said that second part so quietly, she wasn't sure she had actually heard him. Regardless, Annie felt warmth happily flare up in her chest. She hadn't had anything to eat since early that day, and after all of the shenanigans and mishaps her body was running on nothing but adrenaline.

So maybe that was what caused her to lift her head up and reach up with her free hand, cupping his square jaw and turning his head to face her. She saw his dark eyebrows draw together in endearing confusion, but then she leaned forward, kissing him just like she had been wanting to for months.

There was this horrible split-second where it occurred to her that maybe he didn't feel the same way- maybe she was the 'best' as in best friend _only_. But then he kissed her back, drawing her flush against him and making her sigh in content.

Night was closing in on them fast and they would have to pack up for Langley soon, but Annie didn't mind. Getting to spend time with Auggie, however fleeting, would always be worth it in her book.

$4$

In comparison to the craziness that was last week's prompt (because that sucker was sooo long and took soooooo long to figure out and write out), this is very short. But I don't mind, because it took about half the time to write out (just a little under the span of a day, if you include all the times I got distracted and left my laptop XD) and there's just as much fluff as usual, so no major loss.


	11. Squared Away

**Important Author's Note: **This was written on August 20, which is why this is so different from how USA covered the Ben Thing in _CA_ for real. This prompt was tricky, but I could only see it happening one way, so I figured I'd throw caution to the wind and just tackle the tricky subject without really having any background on the subject. XD

I'm aware that yet again I took this prompt as a more figurative and less concrete reaction, but that's just how I roll sometimes. XD It's also cool if none of you like this one because it's so out of the loop from everything else.

I would say this veers into AU at least before _Fool in the Rain_ (1.07), if not earlier, so try not to hold me to too much scrutiny because this isn't a true reaction to The Ben Thing, just my suspicions of what _could_ happen written almost two months ago.

$4$

**Theme:** 4. Our distance and that person

_All your stormy words have barely broken  
__And you sound like thunder, though you've barely spoken  
__Oh, it looks like rain tonight  
__Thank God, 'cuz a clear sky just wouldn't feel right_

- "Come Round Soon," by Sara Bareilles

**

* * *

**

She should've seen it coming, that's what she kept reminding herself. Her head was pounding to an unfamiliar beat, her body felt like it had been run over by a snow plough, but something kept bothering her, niggling in the back of her mind, telling her she should have known this could have happened from the beginning.

Annie had been sitting outside of the CIA offices for well over two and a half hours, unable to move. If she had been able to think clearer, she might have understood that what she was going through at this point qualified as 'shock,' but at that point all she was capable of doing was staring blankly at the cement ground.

She had bruises all over her body, she was fairly positive she had dislocated her shoulder, not to mention the swelling black eye that was rapidly purpling and making it hard to see her left side.

She broke a heel, too. Cream Coach pumps, now worth nada because she snapped her right heel clean off in the ensuing chase. She had kicked them off a while ago, and they were probably somewhere in the tech ops office. Or maybe Joan's.

Jesus. Joan.

That was the problem, wasn't it? Annie was a CIA agent. She was supposed to get people to trust her, not the other way around. But this was Joan. She had been one of the best field operatives in CIA history, and then quickly become one of the best bosses in DPD history. She may have been married to Arthur Campbell, but Joan was terrific at her job, an amazing leader, and all around one of the most badass women Annie had ever known.

Joan was also half responsible for lying to her for the last six months.

The other half rested in the hands of Arthur Campbell, the head of DCS, the boss of Jai Wilcox, and the bastard that had been using her as bait for the last six months. To catch Ben Mercer, of all people.

Ben Mercer, who was the man she fell head over heels, completely irrationally in love with for three blissful weeks in Sri Lanka. Until he bolted with only a dumb letter on his pillow one night.

But Ben Mercer wasn't _just_ the asshole that left her crying with a bar tab to pay in a foreign country, oh no. He was also a trained contract killer turned spy turned assassin that had worked hand-in-hand with the CIA for _years_ before he finally decided to walk away without bothering to give anyone so much as a head's up.

Turned out the one thing Ben always got right was his ability to have one foot out the door at all times.

So while she was still nursing her wounds, she was picked off the Farm specifically to taunt Ben into coming out of hiding so they could finally apprehend the bastard and keep him from screwing up any more operations. She wasn't even chosen because she was a good agent. She was just the pretty blonde lure.

Worse still, she was the pretty blonde lure that was _also_ getting used by Jai Wilcox. Because everyone she knew hadn't messed with her enough, he was given the task of keeping an eye on her (while simultaneously keeping an eye out for Ben) and trying to get any information she might have on her ex-lover that the CIA could use to their benefit. And if he happened to bed her in the process, so be it.

Of course, she didn't _have_ much information on Ben Mercer, because she spent three weeks with the man and they spent more of their time talking about their past and families and how to make a proper fishing lure than his exploits as a suddenly rogue CIA agent.

But Jai was charming and flirty and every woman in the whole damn Agency was half in love with him, so when he said those smooth one-liners and made eyes at her and then finally asked her out on a date a few short months ago, she jumped at the chance.

And, six weeks and eleven dates later, when he took her back to his apartment, she had no reason not to sleep with him. He didn't manage to get any information out of her (she wasn't the type to talk about exes between the sheets), and for that much she was eternally grateful.

Nonetheless, the prick _had_ managed to get a romp out of her, something that was probably always going to leave her bitter. In that way, he was worse than Joan, Arthur, and anyone else that had knowingly gone along with this plan.

Never before had she felt so cheap.

"Worst comes to worst, you can always turn this into a great novel."

Auggie Anderson. Well, if there was anyone in the CIA that she would have been okay with finding her here…

Her chest felt hollow and empty, like she didn't have anything else to give, but somehow she was able to laugh. It wasn't much of a laugh (it sounded closer to a sob) but it was something, much more than she had thought she would be able to accomplish.

She wasn't sure when he had found her- good to know all her CIA training went straight out the window the second she was betrayed by her boss- but he was leaning against the stucco wall, twirling his electronic cane in his hand, unbelievably relaxed. He had on sharply pressed charcoal slacks and a black grandpa sweater over a gray button-down. He did know how to rock a grandpa sweater better than anyone she knew.

At that peculiar thought, she managed another little burble of choked cry-laughter, and he cocked his head thoughtfully at the sound.

"It's good that you can laugh," he said, his deep voice calm and soothing. "Well, kinda laugh."

Annie breathed out softly threw her nose, and the corners of her mouth lifted up a bit- not quite a smile, but the best she was capable of managing at the moment.

"Should I quit?"

Those words came out of her mouth, but it didn't _sound_ like her. It sounded low and scratchy and depressed. She rested her head against the outside wall, squeezing her eyes shut as if it might stop the onslaught of terrible thoughts that continued to race through her brain at lightning speed.

"I don't think I'm the right person to answer that question," he said diplomatically, and she opened her eyes then, studying his face. The messy, longish brown hair (she always liked it right before he would get it cut, when the ends would curl cutely around his ears), the little cleft on his chin (he admitted once that he had gotten it from his father and hated it; she thought it made him more handsome), his warm brown eyes (he may have been blind but she swore sometimes his eyes could see right through her).

"Did you know about all of this?" she said, asking the one question that had secretly been scaring her all this time.

He smiled, but it wasn't one of the true Auggie smiles that she saw every day; it was sad and remorseful and it made her heart sink even further to the ground. "I knew of Ben Mercer," he admitted, and it was starting to become difficult to hold back the tears that were prickling in the corners of her eyes. "But I didn't know he was the guy that broke your heart. You never told me his name and I never asked. I don't think I could have guessed he'd be the rogue ex-agent responsible for about half the most dangerous and most infamous takedowns of the last ten years in the CIA."

That was somewhat of a relief, she supposed. If Auggie had been behind this, too, she was pretty sure she would go home and drown herself in the toilet.

Annie raised her hand and wrapped it around his elbow. All it took was a gentle tug to get him to sit down on the granite bench, and then her fingers slid down his forearm, wrapping around his hand. "Just so you know, you're exactly the right person to tell me if I should quit or not," she said. She sounded less scratchy and desperate, which was nice, but only just.

Auggie smiled, and for the first time all day she felt slightly back to normal, slightly like the Annie she had been eight hours ago. "While I will readily admit that I would miss the morning coffee you bring to me every day, the only person that can decide something that important about your life is you." He gripped her hand back then, his thumb running over the bones of her knuckles as he brought their hands up to his face and kissed the top of her hand.

Her lips quirked again in response, but she was exhausted and the idea of smiling for real actually depressed her. She didn't want to think about work, she didn't want to think about Jai, she _definitely_ didn't want to think about Ben. Quitting was something she could decide when her head was clearer and she felt a little less like pulling a Sylvia Plath and baking herself to death.

"You still have that bottle of Patròn in your desk drawer?" she asked.

He grinned, the classic Auggie grin that never failed to make her a little weak in the knees. "Always," he drawled. "How 'bout I go grab the bottle and meet you out by your car?"

Annie sighed, but it was peaceful. "Sounds like a plan," she said. "You mind if we go to my place? I don't think I can stomach going out for real."

He winked, and if she was feeling a little better she probably would have laughed at him. "Of course," he said agreeably, and her heart swelled simply because he was being so nice to her after all of this. "You know I love your guesthouse. Even if I don't know what it looks like."

That wasn't much, but it helped. Just being in Auggie's presence helped. Maybe she was going to quit, maybe she wasn't. At the moment, that seemed almost trivial. All that she wanted to do was spend time with her best friend until she felt back to Annie.

$4$

Not so romantic, but I figured I never really write about Ben so I might as well try.

Oh, and in case anyone comments on it (though I kinda doubt it) Sylvia Plath killed herself by turning on her oven (this was back when ovens still ran on gas) and leaving it open so the air turned to carbon monoxide which eventually killed her. Majoring in English does occasionally have its perks, like making obscure references to literary figures. ;)


	12. Scent of a Woman

Finally- I get to deliver on more smut! (Sorry again that I don't try more frequently) This is definitely M-rated again, guys, so skip it if you don't want to read it!

Oddly enough, this prompt took the longest of all of them to write, about a month because I kept getting distracted and losing focus because I couldn't get this totally plot-less piece of smut to work out exactly the way I wanted to. XD Then, suddenly one random day when I was working on Chapter 3 of _Gotta Be One of Dante's Circles_, I suddenly was struck with this insane desire to start working on this prompt. In the span of about an hour I had it finished.

I don't think I will ever truly understand how my mind works when it comes to writing.

$4$

**Theme:** 11. Gardenia

_You make me feel like I wanna be a dumb blonde  
__In a centerfold, the girl next door  
__And I would open the door and I'd be all wet  
__With my tits soakin' through this tiny little t-shirt that I'm wearin'  
__And you would open the door and tie me up to the bed_

- "Feelin' Love," by Paula Cole (Easily one of the sexiest songs I've ever heard)

**

* * *

**

"Changing your perfume was a pretty awful idea."

Annie couldn't disagree with him more. If she hadn't changed her perfume, this wouldn't be happening right now, which was a thought so maddening and depressing she refused to consider it. If she hadn't changed her perfume, he wouldn't be pinning her to her bed right now and driving her insane.

She hadn't managed to surprise him this morning when she walked into the tech ops room in wearing a new pair of Blahniks and the perfume. Half her reason for wearing it in the first place was to see if she could trick him for _once_. She thought maybe she could sneak up on him, but instead he grinned and called her name without even pausing his work on his computer.

What she hadn't expected to encounter was Auggie attacking her the second they walked through her guest house after work was over, having decided to skip beers at Allen's for something more relaxing at home.

Not that she minded- hell no. Without letting anyone (especially Joan) in the DPD know, they had been dating for the last several weeks. So if Auggie wanted to strip her out of her pantsuit and uncomfortable heels as soon as the door shut, she wasn't going to say boo.

"I like the grapefruit better," he said, nuzzling her neck with her nose distractedly and making her sigh happily. "This is too floral. Too light. It's not you."

Marc Jacobs perfume, she remembered distantly. Her sister bought her the bottle a while ago, some Christmas she was unable to recall when he kept kissing her like that, driving her crazy with too gentle touches and teasing moves.

Annie's fingers were tangled in his messy dark hair, encouraging his actions as he settled more heavily between her thighs (exactly where she wanted him to be). "If you hated it so much I feel like you wouldn't have jumped me once we were finally alone," she whispered, moaning when he his teeth grazed her neck.

Auggie grinned against her skin, too smug, and she tugged his hair, pulling him up so she could kiss him on the mouth, wiping away that cocky smile. She made an impatient noise when she realized he was mostly dressed, while she was in her underwear.

She set to work unbuttoning his shirt, only to be stopped on the fourth button by those calculating hands of his. When she let out an annoyed little growl in the back of her throat, he chuckled and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. "Patience, my dear," he said, but his voice was rough around the edges.

"Screw patience," she said, the last syllable came out as a happy sigh as those same hands snaked around her back, deftly unclasping her bra and discarding it somewhere over the side of he bed. Her eyes were half closed, but she made sure they stayed open, watching him and studying the lust written on his face that mirrored her own.

She lifted her head up, kissing him once more and making them both smile. In some ways, they were used to each other's bodies, used to what the other person liked, but then one of them would react differently, make a new noise, sigh, whimper, and it would be new all over again.

His mouth was tracing her collarbone, sliding lower and lower without _quite_ going far enough, but his hands never stopped moving. When his way too talented fingers slipped under her panties, she didn't bother holding back the moan that rose up from deep in her chest.

Annie threaded her fingers through his curly hair, saying his name as another moan when he added more pressure. He caught her nipple between his lips and while she was still distracted his thumb found that tiny little bundle of nerves and- "_Auggie_."

He repeated the movement, thumb flicking perfectly in time with his fingers moving in and out of her, and she dropped her head back against the pillows, staring up at her ceiling but not actually processing any of it. "Auggie," she said again, whimpering and whining as he picked up pace.

His tongue was busy tracing her nipple, but he paused long enough to ask, "Yes, Annie dear? Is there something wrong?" He picked his head up and leaned over her, his messy hair and knowing grin invading her line of vision. "Do you want me to stop?"

At the last word, his thumb pressed down on that damn nub and she let out a little cry, fingers slipping out of his hair to dig into the strong muscle on his shoulders. "Don't-" she said, words strangled. She was incapable of coherent thought at this point. "If you- I'll _shoot_ you."

Auggie's dark, espresso eyes sparked with amusement even if he couldn't see her expression. "Well, that would be problematic," he said, never stopping the rhythmic movement of his fingers, even as her short nails dug even deeper into his skin. "What would you do without me?"

She didn't want to think about that, but at that point she wasn't capable of thinking about anything so she didn't need to worry. So long as he didn't stop, so long as his fingers kept doing those delightfully, wonderfully torturous things to her, so long as she couldn't focus on a single damn thing other than _him_, she would be able to-

She didn't know what she would be able to, because then bright lights were exploding behind her eyes and it felt like her whole world was imploding, and the only thing linking her to the rest of reality was Auggie, like always.

When she finally managed to come out of her euphoria-induced haze, she realized Auggie was kissing her, encouraging her to respond. Which she did, lazily kissing back and smoothing his hair down with her hands, hair that she had messed up in her haste. "Happy I didn't stop?" he murmured, catching one of her hands and pressing a kiss to the palm of her hand.

Annie made a soft hum of agreement, and a smirk curved up her mouth before she could think about it. Her lean legs tightened around his hips, and with a smooth, practiced move from all the time they spent sparring together (in addition to various other activities together) she flipped him on to his back, straddling him. "Wanna know the best part?" she said, her fingers making quick work of the remaining buttons on his shirt as she studied the alarmed but amused expression on his face.

Auggie's hands ghosted up and wrapped securely around her waist, eyebrows arching up and asking the unspoken question. She pushed open his button-down, exposing the smooth skin and sharp planes of muscle that she had memorized but never failed in making her grin proudly every time. She leaned forward, her nose brushing against his and taunting him just a bit more in retaliation. When he tried to kiss her, she ducked her head away, breathing six words into his ear that made his whole body shut down.

"I get to return the favor."

Changing her perfume was the best idea ever.

$4$

I know this was short again, but I can't be expected to write a whole lot when I completely avoid including a plot line. XD

In case anyone is actually bored enough to wonder this, you can thank the awesome people that work for Sephora (.com) for giving me the ability to search and find the perfect perfume to suit my needs. It's the Marc Jacobs perfume, and it's supposed to be his take on the scent of gardenia. I'm almost amazed I put this much effort into writing fanfiction sometimes…

I was thinking about it recently, and I think this may be up there as one of the smuttiest things I've ever written. I'm not bothered too much by that fact, because to me this is like when I wrote _Detachment_- another style of writing I don't try out often. Only, obviously, this one is far more fun and significantly less depressing. ;)

(And yes, I am aware that I'm a complete and utter tool for choosing this chapter title. I couldn't help myself. XD)


	13. Take That, Dr Spock

This was done really super spur-of-the-moment because I decided I wanted to treat you guys to something fun this Halloween. ;) This is probably easily one of my favorite holidays, and since I am a giant nerd I got dressed up as Poison Ivy this year and figured it couldn't hurt to continue the wackiness into one of my prompts.

I know Chloe is in third grade, but I wasn't sure about Katia (though I'm positive everyone knows already and I just wasn't paying attention) but I'm hazarding a guess here so don't freak out if I'm wrong. Believe me, it happens often.

$4$

**Theme:** 7. Superstar

_She moves through moonbeams slowly  
__She knows just how to hold me  
__And when her edges soften  
__Her body is my coffin  
__I know she drains me slowly  
__She wears me down to bones in bed  
__Must be the sign on my head  
__That says, "Oh, love me dead!"_

- "Love Me Dead," by Ludo

**

* * *

**

Yet again, Auggie was left standing there wondering what the hell kind of hold Annie had on him that she managed to rope him into something this ridiculous.

Of course, he _knew_ what kind of hold she had on him because he had known he would do just about anything for her sometime around the first ten minutes upon meeting her. He had a pretty good handle on that fact, and he liked to think he wasn't too biased when it came to her. Whether or not that was true was a matter of opinion, and he was starting to have trouble believing it when he actually agreed and showed up to this thing.

One would think he would have learned from the previous incident. But no, despite all his years of CIA training and an exceptionally high IQ, he completely ignored that very important lesson.

"Mr. Auggie, what are you s'posed to be dressed as?"

Next to him, he heard Annie chuckle. He managed to tamp down the initial reaction to blush but he couldn't miss her answering mumble, "A nerd," if he tried.

"I'm Captain Kirk," he told Annie's youngest niece, Katia, and glared in Annie's general direction.

"Who's that?" Chloe asked, her tiny hand tugging on his shirt.

Annie started snickering again, but he chose to ignore her. "He's from _Star Trek_, Chlo," he said, smiling widely. "He's the captain of the spaceship."

There was a long beat of silence as they processed this new information. "My daddy watches _Star Trek_!"

That was Freddie, one of the eight other children they were carting all throughout a neighborhood by Danielle's house. Freddie was dressed up as Batman and that was all he had been talking about for the last hour, so hearing about _Star Trek_ was a nice change.

"My mom says it's really boring and dorky!" he continued in the loud, overly excited manner that only little boys that age could manage. "But my daddy says the same thing about her food cooking shows so's it's okay."

Annie's soft laughter floated through his ears and he had to concentrate on walking and not tripping over any of the excited second and third graders that were currently swamping them. "Pretty sure Freddie's mom is right," she murmured under her breath, elbow jostling his side.

"It's not very nice to pick on me, considering I so graciously agreed to help you out here," he muttered back, giving the crook of her elbow a squeeze in retaliation. "Don't be jealous that my costume is so much better than yours."

"You wish," she said confidently, and he couldn't find it in himself to keep up their argument. True, she was dressed in one of the most overused costumes of the season- black cat- but it was something that incorporated a miniskirt and a soft sweater and her usual unfairly sexy heels. So light years better than pretty much anything he scrounged up from his closet an hour before she picked him up.

"Though it's nice to see what you like to wear when you go to Comic Con," Annie added cheekily, smoothly steering him away from Danny, the third grader in the fireman costume. Absentmindedly, she knocked off a leaf from his shoulder, her thumb brushing his shirt a few more time than necessary- not that he was going to point it out.

"Har, har," Auggie said, grinning widely as he felt Chloe tug on his shirt again.

"What's Comic Con?"

"My dad goes to Comic Con!" Freddie half-shouted, again too excited. "He likes to dress up as this guy named Speck!"

"I think you're talking about Spock, Fred my man," Auggie said, smirking wider when he heard Annie's snort. "Who, in his own right, is pretty awesome. Just not as great as Captain Kirk."

As Annie's snickers turned into laughter, he turned his head to pretend to look at her. "But what do you think, Anne? Kirk or Spock?"

She stopped laughing right away, but he knew she was still smiling. All around them, he heard the kids quiet down, waiting surprisingly patiently for her answer.

"Unfortunately, I'm going to have to go with Auggie on this one," she said, leaning close and brushing a soft kiss on his cheek. "Kirk's way more of the star than Spock."

In almost perfect unison, all ten children let out exasperated groans and squeals at the two adults "sharing cooties!" but Auggie didn't hear any of that. All he did hear was Annie whisper in his ear, "Thanks again for helping me out tonight."

Proving, yet again, that Annie Walker had managed to rope him so effectively into something ridiculous… and he totally loved it.

$4$

I know, it's painfully short again and it really isn't that great, but this was just a quick little something I really wanted to finish for you guys. :)

Hope you all have a happy Halloween!


	14. Play It Again, Annie

**Prompt:** 14. Radio-cassette player

_Get up to go shower  
__I'm dancin' for hours  
__He knows the way I like  
__He knows just how I want it  
__You see my hips swayin'  
__The moment's delayin'  
__It's inside my body  
__My boyfriend's a hottie_

- "Music is My Boyfriend," by Skye Sweetnam

**

* * *

**

Waking up that morning was particularly glorious.

Auggie Anderson had spent the past three and a half days working almost nonstop cracking a code from the Liberians, and at the end of the day Joan had sent him home early with the stern motherly instructions that he was to do nothing but sleep and relax until he came back to work on Monday.

Which meant, of course, no alarm clocks.

It was probably ridiculously late in the day at this point, but with a lack of sight it was difficult to gauge the time based on the amount of sunlight peeking through his window. Yet another random snippet of life he missed thanks to the Accident, but it was better not to dwell on things out of his control and focus on important things in his life. Like his bed, which at the moment still had lingering remnants of grapefruit perfume laced through the sheets.

He smirked to himself at the memory, a strange sense of pride settling in his chest at the knowledge that he and Annie Walker were finally, finally together. It had been going on seven months now, but ever once in a while he would be hit with this inexplicable surge of happiness that she was dating him, and not some 7th-floor asshole.

This probably wasn't one of his greatest moments of maturity, but he was a man, after all. He should be allowed a certain amount of slack for finally getting the perfect girl.

Annie had spent the night, as she usually did (they learned pretty on in the relationship that if they stayed over in her guesthouse her sister somehow always managed to spot them sneaking out to work) but she had to leave for the DPD early in the morning to finish up some last-minute paperwork for Joan. She agreed to head back to his apartment after work for beer and a James Bond movie marathon after.

He rolled over onto his stomach in the bed, burying his face in her pillow and inhaling the subtle scent of her perfume mixed with citrus body lotion and sex. Their sex. And there was that surge of testosterone-fueled pride yet again.

But instead of drifting peacefully back to sleep for at least another half-hour (if not more), his shoulder collided with some hard and plastic. His eyes flew open automatically, a knee-jerk reaction even if it didn't do anything to solve this new mystery.

He pushed himself up on his elbows, gingerly feeling around until his fingers found the object he had initially hit. It was definitely plastic, rectangular with grooves and indentations for buttons along one edge. There were little stickers with raised dots on each button that he recognized as Braille writing. _Play. Pause. Stop. Rewind. Forward._

Attached to the plastic box was a wire, a wire that connected to his favorite headphones, the expensive set that he kept home at all times, not one of the CIA-issued ones. This definitely was older and bigger than a typical mp3 player, and was too boxy to be a CD player.

"Why the hell is a cassette player in my bed?" he mumbled aloud, his brain still foggy enough from sleep to mentally okay talking to himself. He sat up in bed, sheets pooling around his waist as he slid the headphones over his ears and located the button that read _Play_. There was only one way this radio-cassette player could wind up in his bed without his knowledge, and he was more than willing to go along with her game.

There was a series of low, almost undetectable scratches, and then fumbling of plastic on hardwood, and finally a very familiar voice piped through the headphone speakers, speaking softly. "Hey, Auggie," she said, "This is your favorite girlfriend speaking."

"So about a week ago, Danielle was emptying out some of the old junk our mom mailed us years ago, like our old art projects and music and some crappy t-shirts. But when she was going through it, I discovered this old tape recorder and my cassette player from forever ago, and I decided I thought it might be useful."

He smiled and leaned back against the headboard, content to just listen to the sound of Annie rambling.

"You worked seriously hard this week with that code thingy that I still don't fully understand, and considering I have to go into the DPD today while you get to sleep in like a lazy bum- which sucks majorly, by the way, because I hate when you're not at work and I am- so I figured now is as good a time as any to break in the old cassette player."

"Anyway, I'm talking quietly because I'm in the kitchen and I can see you sleeping in the bed and I don't want to wake up your crazy bat-ears. I always love it to see you sleep, 'cuz you're cute when your hair gets all messed up and you sometimes snore. I'm sure that's just going to inflate your already ginormous ego-" He chuckled at her great sense of humor, like usual, "-but I guess it doesn't really matter at this point, because I love you too much to be bothered by something like your ego."

Gone was that male pride, and instead it was replaced by something very, very different. His breath caught in his throat, and he could feel the warmth spread throughout his chest at that simple offhanded statement, as if she was mentioning something obvious like the color was blue or Mingus was awesome.

This wasn't the first time they had said I love you, but every time he heard her say it he was always thrown off. It amazed him that, after everything, it was so simple. She loved him. Sometimes he couldn't believe how lucky he was.

"I don't really have a point to this first recording, in case you can't tell, but I don't mind too much. I guess all I wanted to say was I'm looking forward to making many, many more recordings for you to listen to. That's all. Love you, Auggie."

There was a noise that sounded like a kiss and he realized she must have made a smooch sound and it made him grin again. The recording let out a click, and then the sound cut and the recording stopped and he was left sitting there, still holding the cassette player in his hands. He loved her, too, wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, in fact. It was scary that he was so sure of that after only seven months of dating (and what was even scarier that he was pretty sure he knew that _before_ they started dating) but he knew he couldn't imagine his life ever being complete without marrying her.

And he couldn't wait to hear every one of those pointless recordings she had in store for him for the rest of his life.

$4$

Yet again, very short, but I had this scene in my mind that I had to get out and it worked out exactly as I wanted it. Granted, it made me stay up and extra hour longer than I should considering tomorrow is Monday and I have class early, but this was totally worth it because this fluff needed to be written while it was still in my head. XD

You guys more than likely haven't noticed it, but I don't often write fics that cover the concept (or often include the words) of "I love you." This probably has to do a lot with my personality, because it's in my nature to kind of hold back on declaring anything until I'm absolutely positive about it, so writing this was different. Sugary fluff that I'm sure you guys are used to by now, but it's a new concept for me. :D

(Oh, and fun fact- this title is the second time I've made a reference to _Casablanca_ in this fandom, even if it's actually a misconception and the line never actually occurred in the movie.)


	15. The Daily Planet

A similar joke has been made before by other authors before (you guys know who you are and I will always appreciate that sense of humor because I really am a nerd), but I read this prompt and I decided I had to run with it, just my special way. ;)

Also- this is #15! That means I'm halfway through this prompt list. I don't think I've ever been so devoted to any writing challenge before. Clearly, _CA_ is doing some truly fantastic things to my muse. We're actually on good terms for once.

$4$

**Prompt: **16. Invincible (also: Unrivaled)

_When they finally come to destroy the earth  
__They'll have to deal with you first  
__My money says they won't know about the  
__Thousand Fahrenheit-hot metal lights behind your eyes_

- "Invincible," by OK Go (I just downloaded this song a week ago and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to use it here XD)

**

* * *

**

"So what are you feeling up to regarding movies?" Annie said, tipping her head back to rest against Auggie's couch and watched as he left the kitchen, carting a bag of popcorn and two beers. "I was thinking something fun and action-y."

It was Friday night, one of those rare ones when the both of them wanted to relax and chill out rather than spend an occasionally too eventful night at Allen's. So they went back to his apartment for the usual drinks and Mingus, but she had gotten bored and he was cool to listening to movies so long as she filled in some of the difficult scenes with her commentary.

He smirked and walked around the couch, holding out a beer for her to take, and it was so simple and practiced that she had to take a moment to appreciate it. "I'm fine with action," he said, flopping down on the couch and lazily draping his arm across the back. "What kind?"

"Hmm," Annie thought, taking a swig of beer before setting it on a coaster on the coffee table and leaning her head against his forearm. She smiled wider as she felt his fingers play with the ends of her hair. "How about a superhero movie?"

Auggie nodded. "So long as it's not _Daredevil_," he said with a wince.

She cocked her head, about to ask why, and then she remembered and blushed. "Of course not," she agreed. If he didn't want to watch a movie about a blind superhero (kind of understandable) she wasn't going to force him to watch it. "I was thinking of something more fun and less depressing, anyway. Like _Iron Man_."

"I would be up for _Iron Man_," he agreed. He was still playing with her hair, twisting his fingers through the strands, and it was such a comforting little habit she had to hold herself back from snuggling into his side.

She smiled brightly, giving his leg a quick pat and standing up. "Perfect," she said, heading for the sizeable collection of DVDs stacked in the shelves under his flat screen TV. There were little Braille stickers on each DVD, and everything was in alphabetical order, so it only took her a few seconds to find _Iron Man_ and pop it into the DVD player.

"My dad was kind of a big comic book nerd," she said, walking back to the couch and sitting back down, possibly winding up a little closer to his side than she had been before. She grabbed the remote, setting up the DVD player and starting the movie. "He was really big on the DC Comics, though. Like Batman and Superman and stuff."

He was playing with the ends of her hair again, and she tilted her head towards him. "I might have been known to go through a Superman comic book or two on occasion as a child," he said, badly hiding his grin.

"Hmm, that doesn't surprise me too much," she said thoughtfully. Her lips twisted into a teasing smile as she added, "Nerd."

His eyebrows furrowed and he pretended to look offended. "This nerd has saved your ass on more than one occasion," he reminded her, giving one of her blonde locks of hair a gentle tug.

She chuckled and leaned in, her shoulder sort of brushing his side. "I'm well aware of that fact, Kent," she said, grinning wide and glancing over at the television as Tony Stark charmed a couple soldiers in a Humvee.

Auggie let out a surprised laugh. "Kent?" he repeated. "As in Clark?"

"Well, yeah," she said, resisting the urge to start blushing and pausing the movie. "C'mon, you don't see it a little? You've got that whole mild-mannered superdork going for you but then you can kick ass when the occasion calls for it. That's classic Clark Kent."

Auggie looked like he was having a hard time trying to decide whether to mock her, pretend to be offended, or just laugh and go along with it. "Mild-mannered superdork?" he said, apparently opting for amused disbelief. "Very nice."

"Oh, chill out," she said, nudging his ribs with her elbow. "It's not even a major insult. I'm still comparing you to Superman."

"I guess I can take it as a compliment," he said grudgingly, but he was smiling too wide for it to be effective.

Annie scoffed, letting her head rest on his shoulder. "Like your bigass ego would take it as anything else," she muttered, earning another bad glare from him.

She started the movie up again, smiling to herself when Auggie's arm dropped to rest more comfortably around her shoulders. "So does that make you Lois Lane?" he asked suddenly, causing her to pause.

"You're certainly mouthy enough for that to fit," he added cheekily, flashing her his charming grin that made every other woman in the office swoon. It may have made her swoon a little, on occasion, but he was being an ass now and it wasn't going to work.

"That is not how this comparison works," she said, shooting him a dirty look even if he couldn't see it.

He laughed, and tugged her shoulder closer so she was fully against his side. "I think it is," he said simply. "Especially because the more I think about it, the more it fits. You're stubborn, argumentative, a wiseass-"

"Hey!" she said. "You only got 'superdork.' That is way nicer than everything else you just listed."

He shrugged noncommittally. "Possibly," he said. "You're also very pretty and very good at your job, but you interrupted me before I could get there."

Even though she wanted to continue to act offended and keep joking along with him, Annie could feel her face getting hot all on its own. He had called her "very pretty" and at that moment, that was all her body (and most of her brain) could process.

She was determined to not let him win this one, though. "Ha!" she triumphantly, pretending to forget all about him calling her pretty and giving him another poke to his side. "You like me, you like me, you really, really like me."

He started laughing. "When did I start hanging out with a fourth grader?" he asked rhetorically.

Annie snuggled closer into his shoulder, ignoring that she was still blushing despite her teasing him. "Doesn't matter. Cuz you still like me," she said in a singsong voice.

He was smirking, but something new changed his expression. It was a look she was starting to recognize, something that had been appearing more and more frequently as they spent time together.

"I thought we already established I like you," he said quietly, but there was a huskiness to his voice that wasn't there before. The movie was completely forgotten, and she stared up at him, studying his face closely.

Yet again, he had gotten the upper hand in their conversation, but he seemed just as hesitant and lost as she felt. The silence between them was deafening, drowning out the explosive sounds coming from the TV, solely focusing on whatever was unfolding in front of them.

Auggie moved, turning his head to better face her, and their noses almost brushed. Her breath was caught in her throat, and she knew that if one of them didn't break this spell they were under something scary might happen and there would be no going back.

"I think the real question is," he said slowly, stealing her breath away as his lips almost but not quite enough brushed against hers as he spoke. "How much do you like me?"

A small smile tugged the corners of Annie's mouth before her brain could decide on an answer. She made a thoughtful hum in the back of her throat, pretending like she was actually seriously thinking about it. When his face flashed a little confusion, she caught his lips with hers.

It was a tentative kiss, because even with all their flirting and tension she was still a little fearful. But then he responded, his arm curving completely around her shoulders and burying his fingers in her blonde locks.

She sat up straighter, but the angle was awkward and making it difficult for her to get as close to him as she would have liked. Auggie must have sensed that or just wanted her closer in general because his other arm went around her waist and before she knew it she was straddling his lap, with all the easy access she desired.

Annie sucked his bottom lip into her mouth, satisfied to hear the growl that escaped him and even more pleased to feel the way the sound zipped down her spine and caused heat to curl excitedly in her stomach. She broke the kiss, ignoring his second growl of protest as she focused on tracing his jaw with her lips, following the slight stubble down his throat. She noticed he had stopped moving for the most part, fingers absentmindedly tracing the bones along her spine and sending another spike of heat to her abdomen.

She nipped the thin skin under his neck a little harder than necessary, probably leaving behind a reminder come morning, but for some reason that thought just made her grin wide and repeat the action, causing him to groan. "Annie…" he began, and his voice was so low and scratchy and _lusty_ she could have listened to him say the word a million times over.

His hands travelled up her sides, sliding over her shoulders and cupping the back of her head until he could gently pull her away from his neck. And once she pulled away, she could clearly see the rapidly redening evidence there. Oooh, he was definitely going to have a hickey…

She was too busy smirking smugly to herself that she almost missed that he had started talking. "As much as I don't want to interrupt you, there are significantly more comfortable places to resume this in my apartment. More specifically, my bed."

Letting out a low chuckle, Annie took in the messier-than-usual hair, slightly bruised lips, and (her favorite) a pair of dark brown eyes so clouded over with lust they almost looked black.

"I would be amenable to that plan," she said, tracing the fresh mark on his neck with the pad of her thumb. "Especially if it means I get to see more of the invincible Superman."

He smirked devilishly, and she had to hold herself back from just taking him on the couch anyway. "Naturally, Miss Lane."

$4$

I must say, I'm quite proficient at being a giant nerd. ;)

I really had a fun time writing this one, and I hope it shows. It was maybe a little more campy than past prompts, but it was pretty entertaining overall. It took me a few days to sit down and write, but I don't mind so much because I'm happy with how it turned out.


	16. Claimed

Umm… so, this is NOT for children. This is definitely M-rated. Beware.

I don't do this often, but this prompt was the product of me having a particular idea in my head and being absolutely set out to write it and picking a random prompt that I could incorporate into it. Typically, I'll pick whatever prompt strikes my fancy and work a plot around it, but I have _really_ been wanting to work this concept in somehow and I figured no better place than here. :D

I'm pretty sure something along these lines has been written before, but to my knowledge none of them have degraded into anything this smutty, so I should be in the clear.

$4$

**Theme:** 8. Our own world

_Every time you look at me  
__My heart is jumpin', it's easy to see  
__Lovin' you means so much more\  
__More than anything that I ever felt before_

- "(You Drive Me) Crazy," by Britney Spears

**

* * *

**

"Listen, beautiful. There are some way places to be than this shitty bar. Like my apartment."

Annie rolled her eyes and picked up her rum and Coke and a tumbler of Jack on the rocks. "I'll pass," she said, barely glancing at the tall, blonde linebacker-type that kept crowding her the entire time she was standing at the bar waiting for her drinks.

"Oh, c'mon, gorgeous," he said, towering over her some more like that would actually make her find him more appealing. "You, me, and some Barry Manilow."

She stepped back, barely missing bumping into a guy sitting at the bar. "Sorry, but I have better things to do."

Just as she was about to turn away, his big meaty hand grabbed her upper arm. "Are you saying _no_ to me?"

She leveled a serious glare at the behemoth, completely unafraid of the fact that he was twice her size and a full head taller. She had faced worse odds. "That's a hell no," she said.

It was weird, because a year ago she might've found him (passably) cute. But now he was too tall, too broad, and no where near smart enough for her. Plus, blue eyes didn't do anything for her anymore.

"Why the hell not?" he said, thick neck rapidly reddening with anger.

"Because she's with me."

Annie glanced over her shoulder, even though she already knew who was standing behind her. She smiled despite the situation because she always relaxed whenever he was around.

"You-?" the Neanderthal stuttered, his face transfixed with rage.

"And we're leaving," Auggie said, gently catching her waist and pulling her away from the behemoth. She followed the motion, immediately curving into his side. The guy was so stunned that he didn't put up a fight as she broke his grip and turned towards Auggie.

Annie realized distantly that the loser behind them was cursing loudly but she didn't care. Next to her, Auggie was practically thrumming with barely repressed anger and it made her jumpy as well. She leaned more into him, carefully balancing their drinks and asked softly, "Hey, are you okay?"

"Fine," he said back, but there was a growl towards the end of it that even if it wasn't directed towards her caused peculiar goosebumps to erupt along her body. "You don't mind if we leave now, do you?"

She blinked in surprise but whispered a quick, "Sure." Spotting an empty table, she left the two full glasses on the table and wrapped her arm around his waist, nuzzling his shoulder with her cheek and trying to ease the tension and anger radiating from him in waves.

The second they were out of Allen's he turned her to face him, cupping her jaw in his large hand and pulling her in for a forceful kiss that stole her breath away and left her mind dizzy.

When they broke, both panting unevenly, she finally noticed that look in his eyes that she had missed when they were in the tavern. She'd seen variations of it, both before and after they had started dating, usually when Conrad flirted or Jai hit on her or once when that guy from British Intelligence asked her out on a date, but it had always been more subdued, controlled. Now…

Now it was something completely different. His eyes weren't quite locked with hers, but there was something unquestionably primal about that stare. It was pure jealousy and anger and somehow it was getting her heartbeat up faster than anything before.

"Aug," she began, but before she could get anything more than that first syllable out he dragged her back to him, covering her mouth with his in another possessive kiss that gave new definition to the term 'weak-kneed.'

She realized distantly he was backing her up, not so subtly pushing her towards the small alley that ran adjacent to the tavern. Pulling back for only a second, he grunted, "Is anyone around?"

There was a small cluster of people crowded around the entrance of Allen's, but they seemed completely unaware of the couple sneaking around the side of the building. Annie was having a hard time catching her breath as she whispered back, "No."

"Good," he said simply, pressing her forward until her back hit the rough brick wall. All the air was expelled out of her lungs at the movement, but it wasn't because he hurt her. Quite the opposite, in fact. His kisses were strong, drugging and all translating the same thing: _mine_.

She had seen Auggie jealous before, but never had it been this bad. His long fingers looped through her blonde hair, making her tilt her head back and exposing her neck to his talented mouth. She whimpered as his teeth nipped a torturously slow path down to her collarbone. When he reached the base of her neck she had to bite down on her lip hard to stop from getting any more vocal.

"I wanted to kick his ass," Auggie grumbled, low and scratchy and angry and causing more excited shivers to zip through her. Without any additional warning, he hefted her up, her back scraping against the jagged brick wall as her legs hooked instinctively around his waist. The pain didn't register with her, however. He was still kissing her throat, fascinated with this unbelievably sensitive spot between her neck and shoulder that made her world cloud over.

"You know I would never go anywhere with that guy," she said between breathless pants, encouraging his mouth on her skin by tightening and loosening her grip on his hair. "I'm dating you, and I like you way better."

Auggie nuzzled her throat and made her brain fuzz even further. "I know you do," he whispered, but it was punctuated by a low growl that set every nerve on edge. "It's every guy that hits on you that I have a problem with."

He tugged her blouse from out of her pencil skirt, the rough calluses on his hands catching against her overheated skin and causing whatever half-thought out protest to die in her throat.

"Aug," she said, whimpering again as his hand slid under her bra and cupped the soft skin. Her head knocked back against the brick wall, but she barely felt it. She was focused entirely on Auggie, on his hands and mouth and that other member of his anatomy that was begging for attention.

His lips trailed back to her ear and he growled hotly, "Mine." If her legs hadn't been locked around his hips, she knew she would've melted to the ground.

Annie pulled him away from her neck, kissing him soundly on the mouth and trying to ease his anger by mumbling, "Yours," between kisses.

Her brain was swimming sluggishly, like it always was whenever she and Auggie were intimate. They were in their own world, and she loved every damn second of it. She had the presence of mind to tug his vest open, fingers fumbling to unbutton his shirt. When she felt the hard, muscular skin under his shirt, she grinned in triumph. In retaliation, he tweaked her nipple and she couldn't keep the low moan from slipping past her lips.

He repeated the maneuver, and this time she gasped his name, fingers fruitlessly clutching at his open button-down. Distantly, she knew they were in a public place and anyone could walk by and see them going at it, but it was as if they were in their own blissful world.

"Aug," she groaned, squirming as he continued his ministrations, and she felt significantly more satisfied to hear him growl back when her movements proved to be too distracting. She twisted her hips again, her hand slipping under his shirt and digging her short nails into his hard soldier's skin.

"Mine," he said once more, and Annie felt the strained vibrations through her fingertips, eliciting another shiver. He was pushing her panties aside, hiking her pencil skirt until it was practically around her hips. He said the word a couple more times, but she was barely listening because she was very much preoccupied with unbuckling his belt and unzipping his pants. This was wrong, very wrong, and it was probably later down the line going to contribute to her going to hell, but what was the point of being on birth control if you couldn't do something fun and stupid once in a while?

It only took one stroke from her slender fingers and then Auggie was growling again and pushing her hands aside, lining himself up and sliding into her as smoothly as he did any other night. She knocked her head back against the concrete again, groaning at the feeling and instinctively tightening her legs around his waist to bring him even closer.

Auggie buried his head in her exposed throat, kissing the skin and adding a sharper than usual nip that she knew would turn into a hickey the next morning. She didn't bother caring, because that extra little dose of pain caused a spike of pleasure and her muscles to contract that much more.

Their bodies moved in sync, like always, and she kept chanting his name over and over again, inching closer and closer to that blissful release before tumbling headfirst over it.

It doesn't need to be said. Annie will always be Auggie's.

$4$

I'm sure I'll get a bunch of comments about this being ridiculous or out of character or just plain inappropriate (well… that last one I will admit), but I've been fighting to finish this one for like a month and damned if I wasn't going to make it happen. I apologize if any of you are unhappy with my dirty mind.

I think this is probably a little 'ehh' overall, but that's just me. I know I'll always be my own harshest critic and I'm more or less used to it at this point. XD


	17. The Conversation

Sorry this is an unusually late post, but Thanksgiving has a way of turning me into an even bigger slacker than usual. XD

We're back to sugary sweet prompts, after last week. I am happy that, for the most part, you guys didn't seem to mind last week's prompt, and I am very grateful for that much. I always love to hear that I'm not as horrible a writer as I think.

$4$

**Theme:** 5. "Hey, you know…"

_Our song is the way you laugh  
__The first date, man, I didn't kiss her and I should have  
__And when I got home, before I said Amen,  
__Askin' God if he could play it again_

- "Our Song," by Taylor Swift

**

* * *

**

"Hey, you know, I've been thinking…"

Annie smiled, continuing to eat her food as she kept a close eye out on the people wandering aimlessly around the street across from her. "You're thinking? Hmm, that's always dangerous."

"Ha ha," Auggie said drily, and she repressed a giggle. "I'm trying to say something important, and you mock me. Very nice."

She flicked her hair over her shoulder, focused on that tiny electronic bud in her ear that always kept her close to her best friend, regardless of what continent she happened to be in that day.

"Alright, Aug," she said, watching as a tiny dark woman in a camel leather trench coat across the street walked over to a purse vendor. "What's so important?"

The woman said something to the vendor, and Annie straightened, making sure her phone was level on the table, recording everything that was going on across the street. "I've been thinking about us."

Annie arched an eyebrow, breaking concentration again to put all of her focus on his voice. "Us?" she repeated, and she felt her heart start to stutter even she kept her eyes trained on the woman in the trench coat. The woman picked up a bright red silk scarf, running the fabric between her fingers.

"Yeah, us," Auggie said, and she noticed something heavier in his tone than usual.

"What about us?" she said slowly, picking up her cup of tea and taking a dainty sip. Setting it down, her thumb tapped a gentle beat on the rim, keeping herself amused.

"You've been working here for over two years now," he said slowly, and she traced small circles on the side of the ceramic cup with her fingernail. "And we've been friends for about just as long."

She found herself nodding along with him, even though she knew he wasn't there and even if he was, he wouldn't have been able to see her, anyway.

"Yeah…" she said, encouraging whatever it was that he was trying to work through, all the while trying to ignore her rapidly beating heart. The woman in the trench coat handed the vendor a brown paper wrapped package, taking a hefty black patent leather purse with her. At that moment, two CIA agents descended on the table, smoothly grabbing both the vendor and he woman. Annie was there along with two other agents hidden safely in the crowds, ready to descend at the slightest sign of trouble. Luckily for everyone, this little capture went down seamlessly.

"And I know you've been dating on occasion because everyone knows everything here, even the baristas."

Annie's eyebrows knitted together as she replied, "You've been dating on occasion, too."

But now she couldn't remember if that was true, because while she had seen many women throw themselves at Auggie night after night, she couldn't actually remember the last time he spoke of dating one of them.

She had been on a few dates with some guys in the DPD, as well as a few other guys on different floors (none from the seventh, just to be on the safe side). None of the guys had been really impressive, but it was nice simply to get to know more CIA agents.

He chuckled, the sound making her smile again, and she kept her eyes glued on the two older mean as they apprehended the terrorists. If everything went according to plan (not that it ever did), they would have the leader in custody by tonight. "Well, part of this does have to do with me, but, umm, that wasn't what I wanted to talk about."

"What _do_ you want to talk about?" Annie asked, frustration only slightly leaking into her tone.

"Not anything- just-" Auggie stumbled, and she made the mental note to remember one of these rare moments he wasn't completely on the ball.

"Would you like to go out tomorrow night?"

She nearly dropped her cup, scrambling and carefully setting it down on the saucer. Her heart felt like it had stopped in its place, but her brain was more than making up for it by spinning dizzily. Had she really heard him right? Had he just asked her out? On a _date?_

Hearing her silence and taking it the wrong way, he quickly added, "We don't have to- it's not a big deal-"

"No, no, it's fine!" she said, almost shouting and making the old woman sitting at a table next to her jump and stare in alarm. She cast the woman an apologetic look, lowering her voice to a more respectable level. "We can. Go out, I mean. On Friday. If you want to."

She heard him breathe a relieved sigh over the com, and her chest did that weird fluttery thing again.

"This would be a real date, by the way," he said, and she could hear him grinning. "Not another Thursday night where I'm just there to keep you from getting mauled by on of your sister's creeper set-ups."

Her smile widened at his witticism, and chewed on her bottom lip. "Does that mean I would have to give you a kiss goodnight?"

Auggie laughed, the sound warming her through and through. "I do hear that that's the acceptable thing to do…"

Annie laughed. Yeah, she was definitely giving him a kiss goodnight.

$4$

Yet again, I feel the need to make my job more difficult for me by still keeping this 'kiss' theme going on throughout. I have issues. XD


	18. Walk of Pride

Ahh! I'm super-late again with my post! This was my last week of classes, so I've been majorly swamped because _every_ professor just _loves_ assigning last minute papers/presentations/both for the last week. Which means fun stuff like gets pushed to the bottom of my list as I scramble to get everything finished and in by the end of the week. O.o

Unfortunately, there's probably going to be another week like this next week, because that will be when I'll be taking all of my super-fun finals. Can we say "yay" children?

…Yeah, I didn't think so.

Anyway, after next week, I'll be on winter break for a whole month (thank you, college) so everything should go back to the normal timing it's been for the last… Jesus, has it really been almost four months? Time is passing way too fast for my liking.

And yes, I did _another_ fluffy fic, but in my defense, I don't use Danielle anywhere near enough. :D

$4$

**Theme:** 9. Dash

_Happiness hit her  
__Like a train on a track  
__Coming towards her  
__Stuck still, no turning back_

- "Dog Days Are Over," by Florence + The Machine

**

* * *

**

Annie turned sharply, pulling her ca quickly into the driveway, slamming on her brakes and jerking to a stop. She turned the car off, snatching the car keys and jumping out of her little red car. She sprinted down the driveway, narrowly avoiding turning and snapping her ankle on the gravel in her dumb Christian Louboutins. She threw her purse over her shoulder, finding her key to the guesthouse on her key ring. She shoved the door open with her shoulder, a series of colorful lines of profanity dancing through her head.

She dropped her purse by the door and made a mad dash for her bedroom, skipping out of her stilettos and simultaneously unbuttoning her white blouse. She skidded to a halt when she spotted Danielle sitting primly on the edge of her bed. Annie's eyes widened to the size of saucers and she glanced around the room, making a fast check that there wasn't anyone else creeping in her room.

"So, Chloe and Kat wanted to show Aunt Annie their new costumes for their dance recital, but when I went to _get_ Aunt Annie, it turned out she was nowhere to be found," Danielle said, smiling sweetly as she rested her hand on her chin and batting her big blue eyes up at Annie. "Do you have any explanation for this, Aunt Annie?"

Annie's mouth tightened as she said slowly, "No…"

Danielle tossed her head back with a laugh. "Oh my God, you are _such_ a bad liar! You really have the worst poker face in the world."

Ironic, but she wasn't going to comment on _that_ can of worms. "I don't know what you're talking about, Danielle," she said stiffly, turning and heading to her closet to find new work clothes.

"Hmm, I think you do," Danielle replied, leaning back on her elbows on the bed. "Because if I remember correctly that grey pencil skirt and white button-down was _exactly_ the same outfit you were wearing yesterday."

Annie kept her back to her sister, keeping her mouth tightly shut because she didn't want to say anything more and dig an even deeper hole for herself. She tugged off her blouse and unzipped her skirt, letting them both fall to the ground without any afterthought.

"See, this information leads me to believe that my baby sister did what is commonly known as a 'walk of shame.'"

"Not true," she grumbled obstinately, pulling on black dress pants and grabbing a sweater at random and coming back with a silver v-neck. Her black pumps by the door would be acceptable footwear.

"Really? Then why did you _not_ stay the night and show up about a half-hour before work in the same clothes as yesterday?" Danielle asked, grinning like a madwoman. "If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck… it definitely ain't a turkey."

Annie winced to herself, still refusing to turn around and face her smug sister. She really hated when Dani broke out the Mom-isms.

"I did not have a walk of shame," she said, turning around to face her sister, her expression set in stone. "Work ran late and I wound up staying the night to finish up on all my paperwork."

Danielle smirked. "Sure you did, sister dear," she replied. "At least tell me you used protection. Also, that he was cute."

Involuntarily, Annie felt a blush splash across her cheeks, but otherwise her expression stayed the same. "As I said earlier, I do not know what you're talking about. And I have to leave for work now."

"Oh, you're no fun!" Danielle called out as Annie turned on her bare heel and headed back to the door, sliding into her heels and picking up her purse, rifling through her belongings to find her keys. "You can't even tell me if he's cute or not? Ooh! Was he that hot nerdy guy that helped give Chloe's class the tour through the Smithsonian? 'Cuz if so, I approve!"

Annie's face was scarlet, but there was no chance she was going back on her lie at this point. "Leave Auggie alone," she mumbled, grabbing a hair tie and hurriedly pulling her hair back in low ponytail. "He's a nice guy."

"He's a nice guy that happens to be very cute and likes you enough to help out a whole class of third graders. Plus, I remember your thing for nerdy guys."

Rolling her eyes and feeling decidedly like she was 15 again, Annie turned back to Danielle and shouted back, "I do not have a thing for nerdy guys!"

"You do too!" Danielle said. Her eyes suddenly widened dramatically as some kind of assuredly terrifying thought occurred to her. "Oh my God! You _did_ hook up with the cute nerd!"

Somehow Annie managed to blush even further, and she snatched up her keys. "I did not!" she announced, spinning around and booking it to the door. "I'm going home now!"

"You hooked up with the hot nerd! Admit it!"

"I did not!" Annie slammed the door shut with finality, heaving a sigh of exhaustion. She was going to have to race to work, and she was so not looking forward to the looks Auggie was going to be shooting in her general direction. That was going to be bad enough to deal with all day long, but of _course_ she had to have a run-in with Danielle before she could even get into work! And how in the hell did she guess so Auggie so damn fast?

Compared to her crazy dash from the car to her guesthouse, Annie trudged back to her VW. Granted, last night proved to be one of the best decisions of her life, especially considering their talk afterward. This wasn't a passing fling, because there was something about him that just filled her with warmth and comfort and safety. This wasn't her three-week affair with Ben, there in a flash and gone just as fast. This had all the right signs of being a real, solid, long-lasting relationship. One that wouldn't die in a couple of months, but stay strong, well into the future.

Annie smiled. Maybe it wasn't _so_ bad that Danielle found out about her and Auggie.

Hopefully Danielle would be meeting him for real soon.

$4$

As I mentioned before, I'm really sorry I'm so late with my posts again! There will almost definitely be another week like this next week, but after that I should be back to regular early-ish posts. :)


	19. Didn't See Anything

I apologize for being super, _super_ late posting this, but as I told you guys last week, this was my finals week (but not anymore! Hello, winter break for the next six weeks!) which meant an almost two-hour drive home. When I got home, I busted out my brand-new, gorgeous laptop which I absolutely _adore_. However, because I wanted to save the $400 or so it would normally cost to buy the full Microsoft Office package, I bought it online from this great website for college students that had the whole package for only about $90.

Turns out, though, I wasn't aware it took about two days to get my student verification approved, and then _another_ day to process the order so I could FINALLY download the damn program on Monday (and I bought Office on Friday, mind you).

Okay, that was probably way more information than any of you cared to know, but I really did have a good excuse for being a complete slacker and not posting a prompt for Friday.

_But_ there is some good to come out of this. As a result, I'm uploading _two_ prompts to make up for missing last week, and then I'll still have another prompt set up like usual for Friday. So you'll be getting three for the price of one!

(Fine, there's no price involved, but just… work with me here. It's been a crazy week.)

$4$

**Theme: **1. Look over here

_And I don't give a damn about my reputation  
__The world's in trouble, there's no communication  
__And everyone can say what they wanna say  
__It never gets better any way_

- "Bad Reputation," by Joan Jett

**

* * *

**

It was two in the morning on a Tuesday and there was still way too much to do. He had paperwork out the ass that needed filing, along with monitoring a series of codes that were being relayed from Yemen to Iran regarding a very deadly up-and-coming terrorist organization set up outside of Teheran. More than likely he'd be pulling another all-nighter for the fourth day in a row. Joan hated when he did that, but as he had explained to her on numerous occasions, somebody had to do it.

And, in the end, he didn't have much to look forward in his apartment all alone, so he didn't mind these periodic sleepovers at the DPD. It was what was best for the Agency, as well as all the field agents they employed that relied on accurate intel.

That said, it was never truly fun to pull an all-nighter _anywhere_, much less all alone at work with nothing but a shit ton of hacking and fighting with computers for hours to occupy his time. Oh, he knew how to have a good time, all right.

There was one tiny, miniscule, practically nonexistent a silver lining to all of this stress and sleep deprivation was Katy. She was one of the Starbucks baristas, and he knew it was beyond cliché but he thought she was cute and she actually seemed interested whenever he visited. She was a redhead with a tendency to blush at everything, and he knew from water cooler gossip that last month she split up with one of the other baristas.

That wasn't much in the way of background info, but every time he started to try to use his extreme talent and proficiency to look her up further he… stopped. It felt wrong to look her up, even with CIA-level access. He was pretty sure he really liked this girl, and if he wanted to find out more about her he wanted to find out _from_ her, not from a computer.

Unfortunately, that didn't mean he really _talked_ to her. Oh, there were a few times when they would have little snippets of conversations as she fixed him his venti iced caramel macchiato with a triple shot of espresso, and from that he knew she always wanted to adopt an Akita and get an apartment with a great view of the Potomac, but that was hardly enough information to warrant anything further than a smile and a friendly greeting.

It was no fun being stuck in friendship limbo, but unless he planned on manning the hell up and asking her out, he had no other option. And manning the hell up wasn't really a realistic possibility.

He was almost positive Auggie knew about his little inter-office crush, especially from the way his boss was always grinning from ear to ear whenever they took a trip to the kiosk when Katy was working. He refused to ask Auggie, because God only knew this situation was embarrassing enough without having the tech department's only ever Casanova get involved. The grapevine would do wonders with that humiliating gossip.

Maybe one night he'd get so delirious from lack of sleep that he'd actually work up the spine to ask her out. Or, maybe one night he'd get so delirious from lack of sleep that he would jump on one of the desks in the bullpen and start crowing like a rooster. Both were pretty likely possibilities.

That was the mindset Stu was left as he wandered down the halls of the DPD floor, touting a cardboard box with a series of thickly packed files and his extremely caffeinated coffee. Auggie had left about three hours before, finishing up his handler papers for Agent Annie Walker. Annie had been working there for a year now, and it was hard to miss the way tech ops had changed drastically since her arrival. Auggie always joked around, but his whole personality had done a 180. He laughed- really laughed- and was so much more relaxed than before.

Everyone noticed the changes, just like everyone noticed the way Annie would always go straight to him if something was bothering her, or how she automatically fixed his collar when he rushed and threw on his coat too fast. At the moment, there was a $750 pot going across three different floors betting on when Annie and Auggie would finally get together.

Stu really did hope they were going to start dating. And not just because there happened to almost a grand in the pot and this was his month, but because they were really good for each other. His boss needed a girl to settle down with, one that made him happy. And no one made him happier than Annie. It didn't take any kind of special training to see that one.

The night hadn't even started yet, and already he wanted to give up and pass out for the night. Stu took a heavy drink from his cardboard cup, waiting for that euphoric rush of caffeine and endorphins to hit his nervous system. It wouldn't be too much, but it would be enough to coast him through the next few painful hours.

Stu balanced the coffee cup between his thumb and forefinger, unlocking the sliding glass door and nudging it open with his shoulder. He backed into the room slowly, making sure he had a firm grip on the file box. Behind him, he heard a clatter and froze- dammit, what the hell did he knock over this time?

He turned around to face the damage- and froze in place. Leaning against the edge of the glass desk was Auggie, his back to Stu. This might not have been a problem, had his boss not been shirtless (did Aug always have a tattoo?) and being straddled by Agent Annie Walker in a half unbuttoned blouse.

"What? What's going on-" Auggie was understandably pretty out of the loop, what with not being able to see anything, but Stu had a hard time pitying him when he was having the sense kissed out of him by a hot blonde.

"I-I had work to do," Stu said, honestly more stumbled over than anything, because he was trying to look anywhere but right in front of him. His hard drive of a brain was racing, searching through all kinds of parameters to explain how Auggie and Annie wound up back in the tech ops department in the twenty minutes he left to get coffee and the extra files. Since he was pretty confident phasing through walls like Shadowcat still wasn't possible in the real world, he had no better ideas for how the two of them ended up in his office.

"But you know what, now that I'm thinking about it, this can wait until tomorrow," Stu added, smiling politely at Annie, whose face was stuck in shock, brown eyes huge and dilated and bruised lips parted slightly. Her eyebrows were starting to furrow as a bright fuchsia flush spread across her cheeks. At the sound of his voice, Auggie stood up straight, shifting his shoulders subtly to cover more of Annie. It was a protective move that, looking back, would make Stu grin.

"I'm gonna head home now and tomorrow, when I wake up, I'm going to pretend this was all a hallucination," he enunciated clearly, setting down the file box on the ground by the door and slowly backing out of the office. "Have a good night."

He turned around, trying to get his breathing in order (or possibly remember how to breathe again). That was possibly one of the most horrific and terrifying experiences of his life. And that was including eighth grade when his older brother locked him in the closet with Freddie Rafalski's pet tarantula.

But, silver lining to everyone. There was always sleep. Lots and lots of sleep. And Katy's pretty face. Oh, and the $750 pot he was definitely winning.

The silver lining helped.

$4$

Again, apologies for this past Friday, but you have another prompt as an additional apology sooo… read on! :)


	20. Best Stupidest Decision of Our Lives

**Theme:** 27. Overflow

_Well, I know this little chapel on the boulevard we can go  
__No one will know  
__Oh, c'mon, girl  
__Who cares if we're trashed, got a pocketful of cash we can blow  
__Shots of Patrón  
__And it's on, girl_

- "Marry You," by the Glee Cast (Originall by Bruno Mars- I just like this version better XD)

**

* * *

**

"This is a really dumb idea, isn't it?"

Auggie cocked his head to the side, listening to her steady, if slightly shallow, breathing. She was out of breath, and not just because they had practically sprinted from the bar to here. He could hear the nerves in her voice, the fear resting on a blade's edge, but somewhere under that, excitement and joy. And he was right there with her every step of the way.

"Probably one of the dumbest we've had yet," he agreed, grinning roguishly. There was probably way too much Patrón coursing through his blood stream, coupled with the celebratory glasses of champagne they had right before they took off like bats out of hell.

Her body tensed momentarily, gripping his arm a little tighter. "Does that mean we shouldn't do this?" she asked softly, words slurring around the edges.

"Probably not," he said honestly, but at the last second kissed the crown of her head and brushing soft circles with his thumb on her knee. "But I want to anyway. What about you?"

Annie shifted, sitting up straight and kissing him on the cheek, but with her lack of balance she missed, her lips landing on the side of his mouth. Not really a bad spot to hit. "I still want to, too."

She giggled at the end of her grammatically questionable sentence and it hit Auggie once more that maybe they shouldn't do this, maybe they should wait until they were both sober and thinking clearly. Then she nuzzled his shoulder, and that soft, tangy perfume hit him again and warmth bloomed through his chest. He had never felt anything like it before, that overflow of emotion that took him ages to finally understand and admit to himself. "I love you, Annie Walker."

She tipped her head up, nose brushing against his neck and she laughed lightly once more. Her breath smelled like peppermint and Patrón, something he never would've thought as delicious until right then. "I love you, too, Auggie Anderson," she whispered.

There was a sound of bells chiming and a man's voice called, "Andersons." Annie squeezed his arm once more. "You ready?" she said, sounding giddy and breathless and he absolutely loved that sound. He loved every aspect of her.

"Let's go get married."

$4$

I know, it's pretty abysmally short and lacking anything resembling a plot, but it was cute to write and a fun little thought to try out.

Obviously, I don't recommend anyone get drunk and married. It rarely works out, but Annie and Auggie are so cute we're gonna pretend once they sober up it'll work out in some sort of adorable, heartwarming way. :D


	21. Protocol

**Celticgina** said something about writing a follow-up to this previous prompt, **Overflow**. I wasn't planning on writing any of these prompts to have any kind of continuance with one another, but I did realize that this one was a little short and kind of left you guys hanging so… breaking my rule once can't hurt. XD

Similar to before, I'm using prompts to get out more characters I don't utilize frequently. I like these prompts simply because I get to work out more characters and take liberties. It's a fun little challenge.

$4$

**Theme:** 2. News; Letter

_Why are these lights so bright?  
__Did we get hitched last night?  
__Dressed up like Elvis  
__Why am I wearing your class ring?_

- "Wakin' up in Vegas," by Katy Perry

**

* * *

**

Joan set down her mug of coffee, settling into her chair and settling her thoughts into all things work related. Which wasn't to say there was ever a moment in her life that she _wasn't_ thinking of _something_ work related, but the second she was behind her desk everything save for her people in the DPD was forgotten. Arthur liked to say she was a master at compartmentalizing. She liked to think he was right.

Checking her inbox, she briefly skimmed over the multitude of interoffice memos, notifications and general useless fluff that cluttered her otherwise neat computer. Nothing was amiss or out of the ordinary… until she reached her last e-mail.

She read it. And then read it again. And then scrolled to the bottom of the screen to make sure there wasn't some kind of a note to explain it was all hokum. No note.

Inhaling slowly through her nose and exhaling with equal control through her mouth, Joan stood up, smoothing the material of her red wraparound dress against her thighs.

She walked across her office, hand going out and grabbing the doorframe for leverage so she could lean out and quickly scanned the bullpen. "Walker," she barked, her pale eyes zeroing in on the young blonde agent. "In here, now."

She didn't miss the way Annie's face immediately began to redden, nor the way Auggie sat up straight in the tech ops department. Those two were always attuned to one another way beyond any normal level of agent and handler.

Joan sat down at her desk once more, watching as Annie slowly walked into her office, her face aflame. "Shut the door," she instructed, picking up one of the files Arthur had left on her desk to overlook.

Annie did as she was told, but the second she turned back around she opened her mouth… but no sound came out. She tried again, flabbergasted, and still nothing happened. Deciding it was probably neatest to put one of her best agents out of her misery, Joan glanced up at her and said, "Is there something you want to tell me?"

Annie's soft brown eyes went big and wide, so Joan continued, "Perhaps it has something to do with this notification I just received via e-mail?"

Her eyes shot to the side and down, looking away and clearly making a poor attempt to salvage some excuse and save herself and maybe con her way out of the office. It wasn't going to work.

"Any reason in particular you've decided to put in a name change for… Anderson?" Joan asked, her arched eyebrow her only facial giveaway.

Annie went redder as she said, "A-about that-"

"There wouldn't happen to be another man with the last name Anderson that I don't know about, would there?" Joan said, cutting her off. When Annie made another stuttering noise, she added, "I assumed as much."

Folding the manila shut, Joan appraised Annie carefully. "So you and Auggie got married?" she said, smiling slightly. "Spur of the moment?"

"Something like that," Annie mumbled, shifting her weight in her heels. "Listen, Joan-"

Yet again, she cut Annie off. "Before you assume anything, be aware that I'm not going to make any attempts to prevent this from happening. This is your life, Annie," she said clearly. "And far be it from me to lecture anyone else on the pitfalls of relationships." After all, Arthur _had_ left his wife for her…

Annie quirked a smile for about a second before remembering the situation she was in and dropping it.

"Now I highly doubt you two will be taking off work for a while, but if you ever do, allow me to say Cancun is lovely in April," Joan said, smiling.

Grinning, Annie nodded. "Thanks."

"Now, that will be all," Joan said, returning back to her files. "Close the door on your way out."

Hearing the door open and close, Joan returned her gaze to the e-mail on her computer screen. Even in the CIA, not all news is bad news.


	22. That's One Solution

It's been like a century since I last updated this (okay, not a century, but whatever, you know what I mean) and I am deeply apologetic for that much. When my muse hightailed it out of here last year, it took with it most of my desire to finish anything I started, which is particularly complicated when you take into fact that I'm already difficult enough when it comes to finishing anything.

But I'm back!

This one's kind of funky… well, you'll see why.

If anyone's wondering, this was partially inspired by **tfm's** _Criminal Minds _fic, _Nature Laughs Last_. If you like the show, I suggest reading pretty much anything she writes (she covers all ships, really), but I personally adore her Prentiss/Reid _Hands On_ arc.

$4$

**Theme:** 18. "Say ahh…"

_I can be your little virgin  
At the Commack Inn  
Or your dominatrix  
In your parents' bed_

- "All of the Above," by Idina Menzel

* * *

Annie adjusted her trench coat once more, tightening the belt around her narrow waist for about the fifteenth time in as many minutes. She inhaled slowly through her nose, counting backwards from ten. She'd been doing it since she was in middle school and it was the best solution she found for keeping her nerves down.

Really, her nerves weren't too bad at the moment—she had been doing this over three years now, and at this point she was pretty well into the realm of experienced.

Her makeup was heavy, but it was necessary for the job as much as she may not have liked it. The red lipstick was a bit much, but apparently it was what was generally considered 'sexy.'

Her high heels lengthened her legs nicely, and every time she took a step her stilettos sunk into the plush carpeting just a few millimeters. 322… 324… There, 326. She stopped right in front of the hotel door, tracing the gold numbering with her eyes for a few seconds.

Inhaling deeply, she raised her hand, exposing her fresh blood red manicure. Her knuckles wrapped against the hardwood door one, two, three times and paused.

"The, uh—door's open. You can come in," the voice on the other side of the door called. Annie nodded to herself, her hands going to her tan belt again and tugging the fabric securely.

She pushed the door open, stepping inside to warm lighting and the soft strains of music playing from somewhere. It sounded familiar—maybe jazz. Ella Fitzgerald, possibly. It was certainly more comforting than she was expecting, especially as she peered her head past the bathroom and around the doorway.

"Hello," she called, her fingers fidgeting with the large, round buttons on her coat. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, his jacket laid out neatly next to him. He looked beyond nervous, and the expression made her smile. Seeing him antsy made her feel more at ease.

"Hey," he said, pressing his hands into his jean-covered kneecaps. When he moved them, she could see slight damp spots in the fabric. "I don't really know how—I've never done this before."

His dark eyes were unfocused and settled somewhere over her left shoulder. She stepped forward, and his eyes moved with the sounds but never quite settled where she was actually standing. "It's okay," she assured him, walking until she stopped a few feet away from where he was sitting. "There's not a whole lot you need to worry about."

"In case you can't tell, I'm blind," he blurted, and she froze for a half a second, unsure how to respond. That was hardly the weirdest reaction she had ever received, so she pasted on another smile and nodded again.

"That's not a problem," she replied, softer and gentler this time. Her fingers went to the knot at the center of her waist, loosening and untying the fabric. She thumbed the coat's buttons through the holes, the movements smooth and practiced. "Not seeing isn't really an issue for me."

The coat parted and slid down her shoulders, falling to pool around her feet. She stepped closer, right as her knees bumped against his. He only jumped a little at the contact but otherwise didn't react too much.

"I'm Auggie," he said tightly, and she watched fascinatedly as his Adam's apple bobbed. He was handsome in a nontraditional way, carved cheekbones and a remarkably strong jawline. His longish curly mop of hair suited him, she decided.

"You can call me Annie," she murmured. She picked up his hands, noting the size in comparison to her delicate ones, and placed them on the swell of her hips. His thumbs brushed involuntarily against the edges of her underwear, seemingly tracing the lace pattern.

She straddled his legs with more practice than she'd like to admit, her kneecaps digging into the mattress. He was still nervous. "So if you've never done this before, what made you decide to try?"

She invaded his space, idly following the length of his arms, shoulders, neck with her fingertips before playing with the ends of his hair. Color was starting to rise along his face, heating the skin under her hands.

"The guys I work with," he started and then stopped, swallowing thickly once more before beginning again. "They thought it was a good idea."

She hummed to herself, stroking the back of his neck until she felt the muscles slowly uncoil under her skin. "Some friends," she commented.

"They're… characters," he replied. He didn't move his hands much, but when his fingers brushed against her stockings his mouth fell open a bit. "What are you—if I may ask, what are you wearing?"

She smiled wider at the politeness of his tone, shifting her weight so that she was leaning more of her body against his chest. She breathed into his ear, hot and purposeful as she answered, "Bra and panties. Black. Lace and silk. And thigh highs."

His mouth fell open about a quarter of an inch wider as his head tilted to the side. "I don't like the kinds with garters so mine have that sticky stuff attached to the tops so they don't slip," she explained, gently cupping his jaw until he completely exposed his neck. His breath was coming out more labored as his palms pressed into the tops of her thigh highs.

She leaned down and kissed the side of his neck, feeling the way the muscles strained under her lips. He was one of those guys whose frame belied his actual strength. That didn't stop her from pressing her fingers into his collarbone, whispering, "If you don't mind, you can lie back now."

He complied, and she followed him down, pressing her lips against his skin up and down the length of his neck. She waited until he settled against the bed and lowered her hips against his. His fingers dug into the soft skin of her thighs in response, and the quiet groan that he released in the back of his throat raised goosebumps along her skin.

She chuckled into his ear, ignoring her own body's reaction and focusing more on his. "Just relax," she murmured, her hands drifting down and slowly beginning to unbutton his shirt. Her tongue darted out and tasted the skin above his collarbone, noting the way the muscles reflexively twitched under her ministrations.

"Unsurprisingly, you're making that difficult," he replied, in between pants of breath. She had his shirt unbuttoned down to his navel, and she was impressed with the level of musculature that was revealed. His hands were starting to wander, following up the length of her legs, carefully mapping each portion of her, the callouses catching on her skin.

"That's kind of my job," she chuckled, and some of her curly hair brushed against his skin as she pressed her hands into the planes of his chest and stomach. More impressive than she expected.

One of his hands left her trip, trailing along her body until he came into contact with a lock of her hair. "Are you a blonde?" he asked, his thumb pressing into her hipbone.

"Yes," she told him, her fingers digging just a little bit into his abdomen. "Blonde. With light brown eyes."

His fingers looped around her hair, cradling the back of her head as she continued to concentrate on his neck. Bright red lipstick marks were smudged along the line of his throat, and the sight made her smile to herself. "I bet you're beautiful."

She rolled her hips against his, and he groaned at the unexpected sensation. "Oh, I do alright," she drawled, finally picking her head up from his neck. She pushed the halves of his shirt open, hovering her face over his. His grin was almost unabashedly shameful, and the look surprised her. "How about you?"

At that, she twisted her hips again, throwing off his concentration and making him press his hand into the small of her back. His reaction to her was getting harder to ignore, and she tried not to think too much about the implications of that sentence.

Her lips were mere millimeters from his, and as he rubbed small circles into the small of her back until she reflexively arched under his touch, she had the very, very bad thought that she wondered what he tasted like.

"I'm doing better every second," he replied, and she was so caught off guard by his dark eyes and lips and the texture of his skin under her fingers that she nearly jumped out of her skin when her ear bud crackled to life.

"_Chimera and company have been apprehended. I repeat, Chimera and co. have been apprehended._"

She gasped just a little, and her real life snapped back in place—but before she could, Auggie's head craned up, catching her mouth and kissing the breath right out of her.

"_Status on Eros and Psyche?"_

Annie whimpered only a little as his tongue pushed her willing lips apart, and his fingers tightened on the line of her spine and smoothly flipped her under him. His solid body pressed her into the mattress, and it was too natural for her legs to completely wrap around his lean hips, her heels digging into his back.

"_I repeat, status on Eros and Psyche?"_

Auggie ground his hips down against hers, and she whimpered again helplessly. His kiss was searing, and it felt like her skin was tingling with every swipe of his tongue. She was scrambling, her hands slipping under his open button-down to grasp frantically at the muscles of his back.

"_Eros and Psyche—status?_"

Finally, _finally_, Annie managed to wrench her head away with a loud smack and a gasp. "Psyche here," she said, trying to pretend how badly she was panting. "With Eros. Everything's good on our front."

"_Affirmative. Zeus out_."

Auggie dropped his head against her shoulder, panting into her ear. His hand was wrapped around her thigh, dangerously close to crossing another line. They needed to leave, because pretty soon they were going to have to answer more questions and she was pretty sure she wasn't going to be able to respond properly with him between her legs.

Annie stretched her head back, exhaling a long gust of air. Auggie shifted slightly, and it was difficult not to shiver at the small movements. She was going to have a hell of a time looking at Auggie the same way.

"Ahh… that was unexpected."

* * *

"—I can't believe it actually _worked_. I could've sworn this was going to end in chaos."

Reva rounded the corner into the Tech Ops office in the Domestic Protection Division. She didn't know the guys too well—her stint there was brief at best, and ironically the person she talked to the most was Auggie Anderson, the same guy she had initially replaced. She hoped she would spot Annie somewhere in the bullpen. That was pretty much the only friendly face she knew in the DPD.

"I guess we shoulda known, they're mobsters," Stu replied to Barber, tapping his fingers against the glass desk. "They would be horny and screwed up enough to be entertained by that crap."

Reva smiled, knocking her knuckles against the doorjamb. The guys had been busy arguing and never noticed her walk inside. When Stu saw her he immediately flinched and then blushed guiltily. She supposed he was embarrassed for having been caught speaking so frankly within her hearing. She assumed that meant they never read her file. She had two older brothers—very little shocked or offended her.

"I'm here to pick up the reports on the Donatelli raid," she announced, smiling slightly. People were generally more willing to assist when shown a smile first. She was also trying to be more personable in her daily life.

Stu handed her the papers hurriedly, his eyes downcast and a heavy blush on his cheeks. Barber, meanwhile, went right back to talking, "You know Auggie's going to be impossible to deal with from here on out."

Curious, Reva cocked her head. "Why?"

"Didn't you hear?" Barber asked needlessly. She knew everything there was to know about this case. It had been assigned to her at the Advanced Technology Desk—she had been the one to approve and outfit Auggie with all the tech he'd needed. "Auggie was assigned to work an actual operation to take out the Italian mob. They needed a hacker so Joan set him up to be the one hired."

"Right, and they were all arrested last night," Reva finished, glancing down at the manila folder she had just been handed.

"Yeah, but it's the _way_ they were arrested that was so epic," Greg interjected, jumping out of his seat. "In order to infiltrate the mob, Auggie wound up playing a total grade-A geek, and still managed to charm the pants off the B-list cast of _Jersey Shore_. And they decided to present him with the gift that keeps on giving: a hooker."

Reva eyebrows knitted together—she didn't really see how a _prostitute_ was the gift that kept on giving, when clearly one could only get as many 'meetings' as they paid—but, again, she knew all of this.

"Obviously, Joan was _not_ letting the Italian mob buy Auggie a hooker, so she arranged to have one of the women in the DPD to play the role."

"And she picked—get this—" Barber added excitedly, interrupting Greg. "_Annie Walker_. Can you _believe_ that? It couldn't be more perfect if the romantic comedy gods tried. Just to have her picked like that? Beautiful."

Reva was officially perplexed. "I—" she stopped herself.

The guys didn't notice. Stu rolled his eyes as he said, "Barber, don't be a jackass. We were really just lucky enough that the mob happened to be made up of entirely horndogs that had every intention of taping Auggie and Annie's, umm, _interaction_ in the hotel room. Joan used the opportunity to send a team and bust in without risking any casualties."

Mentally, Reva weighed all her options. Luckily, this only took a fraction of a second—well before Stu had even finished his first sentence. The boys had gotten their information ten different kinds of wrong, and she hated it when people had their information wrong.

Annie had been assigned to act as the prostitute for Auggie—Reva had actually been in the room when that decision had gone down. But what the tech boys—and Auggie, too, she reckoned—weren't aware was that Annie was never _chosen_ to play the role.

She had volunteered.

Quite earnestly, Reva estimated. She still was a far cry from expertise regarding the wide range of human emotion, particularly because there was more to learn every passing day. But she did recognized all the tell-tale signs that Annie very sincerely wanted to take on the particular role and immediately volunteered to Joan after the older woman explained the situation.

There had never been a chance to choose a member of the DPD because Annie had already taken the position for herself.

Reva wanted to correct them—but something stopped her. Something told her this was not the kind of correction that needed to be made. She had never explicitly asked, but Reva had a suspicion that this was one of those things that women never outright spoke about.

So maybe this wasn't one of those times she needed to correct the boys.

$4$

Oh, this was a wacky one. But fun.

It's been a while since I've stretched my not-so-appropriate muscles. ;) I've already got a second one about three-quarters of the way finished, and I'm hoping I can complete it by the end of the week… maybe.

I don't know how many of you live on the east coast, but this freak-ass snowstorm (two days before _Halloween!_) totally wiped me out. My campus lost power for three friggin' days, which allow me to tell you was soooo much fun to deal with—but on the positive side, it gave me the time to complete this sucker!

I hope all of you were warm this Halloween as you read my treat! :D


	23. One Day at a Time

Okay, so allow me to give a little background on this one before you read further… When I lost my inspiration last year (and, shit, it's been a whole year), this was actually the last prompt I had been working on before I gave up. Looking back, I realized I had next to nothing done, so I decided to start from scratch, which is how we reached this plot.

Funny thing was, I never intended it to have a plot—this is very much smut, and while I tried to give some meat to it, it's mostly just smut. However, this is probably one of the longest (standalone) Mature projects I've ever taken on, as this has been in the works since roughly late September of this year.

Meanwhile, I finished the previous prompt (Say ahh…) in about the span of a long weekend, _while_ I was still working on this monster. I originally wanted this one out first (because I figured solid smut would probably be the only thing to make up for my obscenely long absence), but since I knocked _That's One Solution_ out so fast, I figured I'd give you guys something to hold onto in the meantime. :)

And that's my rant. About my Plot What Plot smutfest.

$4$

**Prompt: **12. In a good mood

_I could try to forget what you do when I let you get  
Through to me but then you do it over again  
I could rage like a fire and you'd bring rain I desire_  
'_Til you get to me on my Morningside_

- "Morningside," by Sara Bareilles (in case you couldn't tell, I really like her…)

* * *

In the true nature of all things, deciding to walk back to Auggie's apartment from the Tavern seemed like a good idea at the time.

They were both more than a little tipsy, but the bar had quickly become overrun with Georgetown college students ready to get a quality post-graduation buzz. Half an hour in, it was more than apparent that there was no chance they could stay there much longer.

Annie leaned into his shoulder, humming a tune to some song she couldn't remember ever hearing. Auggie seemed perfectly content just to wander aimlessly with her, his arm wrapped securely around her waist.

It was a humid night, and it made Annie think of summer rain and Memorial Day parties. Winter always made her miss this weather. She tilted up her head, shutting her eyes for a few seconds as she inhaled the slightly sweet air.

"You know, if we continue to wander around with your eyes shut we're bound to run into a stop sign," Auggie drawled, grinning widely to himself.

Pulling her head off his shoulder, she stared up at him in confusion. "How did you know—"

"Because it's you," Auggie replied simply, turning his head toward her. "And I know you."

She smiled at his response, returning her head to his shoulder. "I remember," she said. "I'm unexpected."

"You are," he agreed. "That's why I enjoy working with you so much."

She laughed, smoothly leading them away from the edge of the sidewalk. "I do appreciate that," she told him sincerely. "Work wouldn't be half as fun without you."

"Ain't that the truth," Auggie replied, resting his head on hers. "But we should probably get out of the rain soon."

Annie's eyebrows scrunched together. "It's not raining," she pointed out. "Is this another one of your weird Saint Bernard things?"

"Actually, no," he said, following perfectly in step as she led them around the corner. "I felt raindrops on my skin earlier, and more just now. It's going to start pouring soon if we don't start moving."

She rolled her eyes at his know-it-all tone, but tilted her chin up at the blue-black sky. "I don't mind the rain," she answered, unconsciously snuggling closer to him. "A little water's not going to kill us."

"You say that now," he replied. Lately he had been keeping her more tucked into his side than usual, and tonight was no different. She didn't particularly mind, because it gave her the opportunity to stay close to him without having to worry about him judging her for it. "Just wait. This'll turn into hurricane weather."

"I highly doubt this is going to turn into a hurricane," she admonished, burying her face into his shoulder. She wasn't cold in the slightest but he smelled really good and she wanted the extra comfort.

"Yeah, but when _you're_ at the center, it seems like the worst is infinitely more than possible," he replied, grinning.

She felt a couple raindrops n her face and the exposed skin of her upper arms and shoulders, but she didn't mention it to Auggie. She liked the rain.

"That's not true," she argued, pulling away from him slightly. "There have been plenty of times when I've completed a mission without anything going wrong."

"Not enough that you can outweigh the ridiculous number of times your missions have gone sideways and then flipped upside down," he disagreed. He kept his grip strong on her waist—if she tried to pull away further he wasn't going to let her go easily.

More raindrops hit her scalp and shoulders, but she remained unconcerned, even as her body shivered a little at the sensation. "Hey, I almost always complete my missions perfectly," she pointed out proudly. "So it doesn't matter how sideways they go in the beginning. Or the middle."

"Yes, yes, you're a very talented agent," he assured her, patting her waist patronizingly. "Now can we please get out of the rain?"

Annie stopped in her tracks. The movement was so abrupt Auggie nearly stumbled, but her own arm around his waist kept him successfully upright. "We're not going anywhere," she informed him cheerfully once he regained his bearings.

"You're serious?" Auggie asked, never letting go of her as he turned to face her. "You're not going to let me walk back to my apartment because you want me to get wet?"

She shrugged, pretty damn proud of herself. "Yup," she agreed. The rain was starting to pick up, getting very close to a drizzle, but she wasn't deterred in the slightest.

"You're going to be stubborn about this," he said, as if he needed to clarify it. "_This_. The rain."

"Absolutely," she said, nodding once. "We're not going anywhere."

"Or I could just ignore you and carry you back to my apartment because you've clearly lost your mind," Auggie replied, looking every bit as serious as he sounded. Which was why he didn't seem too pleased when she laughed in reaction to his dare.

"I don't see that happening," she told him. His dark eyes narrowed. The rain was starting to make his curls stick to his forehead. Pretty soon he was going to look like a wet dog.

"We're less than half a block from my apartment," he said threateningly. "Don't think I won't."

If they weren't having this conversation, she totally would've loved to know how he knew that. But as it was, she knew a real threat when she heard one, and she no doubt that he was strong enough to go through with it, sight or no. That didn't mean she was going to make it easy for him.

The air was warm, but the rain was colder and she was starting to shiver. Her hair was curling and her clothes were getting wet, but she didn't mind any of it. She leaned back, not pulling away but enough to make him think otherwise.

He yanked her back harder than she was pulling, and she stumbled, colliding with his chest. She laughed into his shoulder as he wrapped both arms around her waist securely. "What was I saying?" he asked, rumbling in her ear.

Auggie was nice and warm, even if his shirt and jacket were damp from the rain. He had one of her arms pinned between their bodies so she could only push him rather ineffectually with her one hand on his shoulder. "You were saying that you were a pain in the ass," she replied helpfully.

"Hmm, I don't think that's it," he said thoughtfully, linking his wrist around her back. She wasn't going anywhere but she couldn't be bothered to see that as a bad thing.

The drizzle was starting to increase, falling faster in fatter drops. "Really? 'Cuz I think that's it."

He ducked his head so his face was very close to her but out of the rain. "Nope, you're definitely wrong," he disagreed. His breath mingled with hers, warming her up even further.

Somehow, even with their tight embrace, a cold drop of rain hit the back of her neck, and slid down her collar. And just like that, it felt like she had been doused with a freezing bucket of reality. She was standing, still somewhat tipsy, in the middle of the street, in the rain, with Auggie.

Annie froze uncomfortably, all too aware of how it felt to be in Auggie's arms. They were best friends, and while there was more than occasional flirting they never crossed the blurry-if-best friends line. Standing there, for the very first time she felt extremely close to toppling right over it.

She leaned her head back slightly—the only part of her body she really could move with him pinning her like that—so she wasn't so close to his mouth. "Aug, I think maybe I should go home," she said softly, all traces of humor gone from her voice.

Auggie looked startled by her sudden reaction. His grip around her loosened but he didn't let go completely. "Oh. Umm—yeah. If you—if you want to."

They were close enough that he was making perfect eye contact with her. She looked away, feeling ashamed as she added, "I don't want things to be awkward between us."

His eyebrows furrowed, probably in part from her abrupt change in personality. "We aren't going to be—"

Finally, she stepped back, breaking his embrace. "Yeah, we will," she answered, "If we keep flirting and I go up to your apartment and we sleep together."

Auggie looked hurt, but they needed to have this conversation—even in the rain. "Annie, you don't—"

"I can't lose you as my best friend over one night," she replied, taking an extra step back from him. "It's not worth it."

She stepped back again, but his response stopped her. "Why does it only have to be one night?"

Annie hesitated, examining his earnest expression. "Aug, you don't really have long-term relationships. Hell, neither do I."

"I'd be willing to try again," he said, pained. He stepped closer to her, only this time she didn't move. "For you."

Her breath caught in her throat, and she watched as he inched back in front of her. "This is a horrible last-minute plan," she told him gently, letting him trace up her arm, shoulder, neck, before finally cupping her chin and tilting it up. "Destined to end badly."

"Now how do you know that?" he asked, the pad of his thumb gentle as he traced the contours of her cheek. She could feel his callouses against her skin and idly wondered why that made her pulse speed up faster.

"History mostly," she answered, her breath catching as he found her bottom lip. His skin felt warm, almost hot even, compared to her damp cooler skin.

Auggie was grinning, his face barely inches from hers. She remembered that they were still standing on a street corner barely a block from his apartment, but he learned a little closer and she forgot all over again. "What history do we have that says this would end horribly?" he asked, tone teasing.

Annie was still half-distracted by his thumb against her lip, but she managed to swallow and reply, "That time you almost ran away to Canada. And that time I almost got arrested. And—"

"Hey, I helped you that time you almost go arrested," he argued, distracted. "And I said I liked you—"

"Oh, and let's not forget that nonsense in Istanbul and that stewardess," she added over him, throwing in an eye-roll for good measure. "Yeah, that shit didn't get _too_ ridiculous."

"It was perfectly understandable," he said, half-frowning, half-grinning. "And she was a flight attendant."

"Same difference," Annie shot back, her hand coming up and catching his wrist. "It's still another reason why this won't work."

"Maybe," he said with a noncommittal shrug. "But that same flight attendant still thought you were my wife, so I still think that counts in the 'it'll work' category."

"She thought I was your _wife?_" she demanded, pulling back in surprise, but he didn't let her get any farther than a few inches. "_Wow_. I had a feeling she was dumb but _Je_—"

Auggie covered her mouth with his, silencing her last thought and using his arm to draw her against him. She made a muffled noise in the back of her throat, her fingers digging into his wrist and jacket collar.

He had no problem deepening the kiss after a few seconds, his tongue sliding past her lips and stroking teasingly against her own. She tried to reciprocate, but he broke away before she could do much of anything.

"_Now _will you come upstairs with me?" he asked, breathless and uneven.

Annie blinked hazily, sidetracked by the pounding in her ears. "That wasn't fair," she complained, her lips parting a little more than before as his thumb continued to stroke her skin.

He grinned roguishly, too proud of his effect on her. "So?" he asked.

Instead of responding, she retaliated, her tongue darting out and licking his thumb. She got a good reaction, his dark eyes losing even more focus as his mouth fell open with a quiet groan.

Smiling, she chuckled to herself lowly, pulling away from him then, all the while keeping one hand on his arm. "Well, are you coming?" she asked well aware of the loaded question.

She tried not to think too much of consequences as he more than happily followed her. But Auggie did a pretty good job of keeping her from thinking, pulling her back to his side as his fingers proceeded to trace the curves of her hips and waist.

Taking the elevator was probably the best and worst idea of all time, because while it meant not taking the chance of getting too caught up in one another and tumbling headfirst down the stairs, just standing there innocently for a minute and a half with Auggie was damn near impossible. Particularly when he distracted her with another searing kiss—it took a lot of self-control not to jump him then and there.

When the doors finally dinged and slid open, she grabbed Auggie's arm and yanked him down the hallway.

Running fingers through her hair, Annie turned back long enough to give him a properly dirty look. Her veins were still humming with anticipation and there was a particular throbbing below her waistline that had no right being there given they hadn't done anything yet. "I'm just going to say one more time what a bad idea this is."

They stopped right at his door, and she realized he already had his keys out and ready to go. She didn't know why that made her more excited, but it did.

"You said that already," he reminded her, unlocking the door. She was leaning heavily against the doorjamb, not trusting her knees to work for her as he purposely crowded her in the process of pushing open the door. "But that idea isn't enough to stop you."

Standing in his proximity was making her dizzy. "It's enough to make me pause," she retorted, her eyes unconsciously slipping down a few times to stare at his mouth.

The heavy door was successfully opened, but Auggie didn't move, pinning her to the wall with his eyes for a few moments longer. "Then tell me when you're done pausing."

Smiling, Auggie pulled away and walked into his apartment. Blinking hazily, Annie followed him with her eyes as he walked into his apartment, her eyebrows furrowing with the knowledge that she had no idea what was going on.

She shut the door behind her, and she felt impressively unsteady on her feet as she followed him in. "I'm going to change in the meantime, " he announced, dropping his things on the kitchen counter and hanging up his cane.

He tugged of his jacket while she was still busy being confused, and before she could blink he had grabbed a fistful of the back of his shirt and slid it off. By that point, pretty much all of her confusion had been replaced with lust.

A chuckle of realization tore from the back of her throat, low and rough around the edges. "You don't play fair," she muttered, but she knew it was more than loud enough for him to hear.

"You're CIA," he replied, and she so wasn't distracted by the way the muscles of his back moved when he walked or how his jeans sat on his hips. Not at all. "You shouldn't be able to play fair, either."

That was absolutely a challenge from him, and it made her grin to play along. "I wasn't aware I was going to need my Farm training tonight."

"Well, as your handler, allow me to inform you that you _always_ need your Farm training, Walker."

Annie smiled wider, finally stepping away from the wall, sliding her jacket off her shoulders. Their conversation had afforded her the opportunity to get her heart rate and breathing down. "So is that what you're doing? Handling me?"

Auggie laughed. "Always."

"I feel like Joan would differ with you on the definition of that word," she hummed. She couldn't see him in his bedroom anymore, so she wandered inside, gently setting her purse by the desk.

"Possibly," Auggie replied. He was standing by his nightstand, and she chewed her lip, weighing her options.

"Probably," she wheedled, smirking to herself. She walked up to him slowly, feeling a little bit like she was surveying her prey before stopping a few inches from touching him.

He didn't make any movement to touch her but instead cocked his head curiously. "This means you're done pausing?"

She shrugged, aware he couldn't see the movement. She leaned forward those last few inches, her lips brushing teasingly against his collarbone. His body went rigid, but she didn't pay him any mind, pressing another kiss to his skin.

He groaned again at her ministrations, and smiled and continued to trace the bone structure with her lips. When her tongue darted out to lick the hollow of his throat, he moaned, "_Annie_," and quickly ducked his head and kissed her before she could push him any further.

"You told me not to play fair," she managed to retort in between hot kisses. He had her shirt off in a flash, and in the back of her mind an evil little voice chuckled and called him _manwhore_, but she pushed it aside because his thumb was brushing the underside of her bra.

Distantly, she wished she would've known this morning that her night was going to turn into _this_, because at the moment she was sporting a green cotton bra and white bikini-cut panties. Not exactly the epitome of sexiness.

She doubted that Auggie, even if he got his sight back, would really care about her choice in underwear, particularly given the way his hands were stroking up and down her body like he was trying to memorize her.

His fingers made quick work of her dress pants, but he was temporarily stymied by her desire to be as close to him as possible. She laughed when he let out an annoyed noise, breaking the kiss and nuzzling her face against his neck. Auggie's sound of annoyance turned into a low growl, and before she could process he had her flat on the bed with him between her legs. Annie's laughs turned into a series of sharp gasps.

"You're being difficult," he told her, returning the favor and kissing along the line of her neck until she whimpered. He slid her pants the rest of the way down her legs, kissing and nipping her skin as he went.

When he successfully divested her of her pants, Annie managed to gasp out, "I think you'll survive."

He pinched her hipbone and she jumped, her fingers digging into the skin of his shoulders. With a grin, Auggie returned to his previous spot, his hips settling heavily against hers.

She wound her fingers through his hair and hooked her legs around the back of his knees—that was his only warning before he found himself flipped on his back. She pressed her fingers into his collarbone, tracing the line half-mindedly. "No offense," she muttered in response to her move, unconsciously rocking her hips.

Auggie groaned and the sound did wonderful things to her nerves, his hands grabbing her hipbones to make her stop. Or possibly move faster. She wasn't completely sure.

He moved sharply, rolling so he was balanced over top her again in less than a second. "No offense," he replied cheekily, his thumb tracing her hipbone.

Annie managed to moan, "Oh, God, you would," but she was more than happy to oblige as his hands slid under her back, deftly finding her bra clasp.

"Are you really that surprised?" he asked, dipping his head down for a quick kiss. He had her bra unhooked and off before she could open her eyes again.

"No," she retorted breathlessly, shivering as he cupped the new flesh. "You _are_ a control freak."

"That's rude," he teased, and she would've responded with something along a curse but his lips covered nipple and instead all that came out was his name on a moan.

Annie wrapped her fingers further in his curly hair, tugging a little when his teeth scraped against her skin. She felt too hot, particularly as one of his hands slid down her body, playing with the edge of her panties. Yet again, she said his name, the noise coming out somewhere between a sigh and a whimper.

Auggie switched sides, and she hooked one of her legs around his hip. For the first time, she realized that he still had his pants on, while she was down to her underwear—and about to lose those, too, judging by the way his fingers kept slipping under the elastic. Her fingers went to his belt buckle, only shaking a little as she worked the leather through his belt loops.

When she moved to his zipper Auggie pulled away slightly, stilling her for a second. "Are we moving too fast?"

It took longer than she would've liked to admit for Annie's brain to catch up with his words, but in all fairness she was running on about half alcohol and arousal. "Since when do either of us know the meaning of 'slow down?'" she shot back, ghosting her hand over the bulge in his pants until he let out a strangled groan.

Before she could take it any further his hand wrapped around her wrist and he dropped his head against her shoulder. "I was just checking," he muttered.

"And I was just proving a point," Annie shot back, leaning her head forward and catching his earlobe between her teeth. "Now can we get back to the point where I was getting you out of you pants?" She added a pointed little finger wiggle for good measure.

Auggie chuckled. "Far be it from me to delay you any further," he whispered into her ear, teasingly kissing her throat as he released her wrist.

She let out a laugh, lowering his fly and shoving his slacks down his narrow hips in a few short seconds. Smoothly, she knocked her knee into his hip, jarring him just enough to get him to stand up and completely remove his pants.

Looking up at him with a cocky grin, she said, "There. Now we're even."

Auggie grinned back as she scooted to the top of the bed. "Oh, not quite," he remarked slyly, kneeling on the bed and crawling towards her. She was trapped by that positively feral look on his face and the darkness in his eyes as he stopped barely an inch from her lips. Her vision went hazy as he slid between her parted legs and added, "I think you look a little better in yours."

Before she could lose her nerve or he could distract her any further, Annie leaned forward, burying her fingers in his hair and dragging him to meet her mouth.

He had no problem kissing her back soundly, hotter and harder than before until she was squirming under him. Just when she was seriously considering passing out from lack of oxygen in lieu of stopping kissing him, Auggie broke away with an audible smack and growled, "But I think you look better without them."

For several seconds, she had no idea what he was talking about, but then he hooked his fingers into the sides of her panties and she remembered. And grinned.

Auggie's own grin was nothing short of shit-eating as he asked, "White?"

It wasn't easy to concentrate when his warm breath was ghosting over her breasts, but she connected the dots and glared. "Oh my God, no way," Annie expressed, lifting her head of the bed, eyes wide with shock. "You can_not_ be that much of a manwhore that you can guess the color of my panties by touch."

"Nah," Auggie drawled, lazily following kisses up the side of her ribcage. "I just know you."

She shivered a little with anticipation as he inched her underwear down. "I hardly think white cotton counts as unexpected," she replied, tracing the muscles along his back as he stretched and shifted.

He licked the underside of her breast and she arched with a catch of breath, giving him the chance to slide her underwear down the rest of the way. "Exactly," he answered. "Nothing's more unexpected than plain and boring white cotton." He lifted up from her enough to work them past her feet, then let his hands wander up, following the line from her ankle, the inside of her knee, and up.

Every breath came out on a gasp and her leg worked over his hip once more, her fingers tangling in his hair and bringing him back to face her. She moaned into his mouth helplessly as his fingers found her slickness, fingers digging involuntarily into his scalp.

He had no problem finding all the places that made her shake, and with each passing second she felt more and more out of breath. She broke the kiss, panting and burying her face in his chest. His fingers curled and she whimpered his name. He kissed the side of her face but didn't slow down for a second, nuzzling the sweat off her cheek.

Her head felt cloudy and she was impossibly close, but before she could forget she shoved his boxers past his ass and pushed them the rest of the way off with her feet. Auggie chuckled gravelly at her harried movements, but that laugh caught when she wrapped her hand around him experimentally. "_Annie_," he groaned, and she would've smiled triumphantly but his fingers hit a spot and then her vision went blurry and all of a sudden she was shuddering out of control and moaning his name.

By the time she had gotten her wits back, Auggie had taken the opportunity to grab a condom. She grinned at his expediency, pushing herself up on her elbows and watching him closely. She reached over, cupping his jaw and bringing him back to attention.

Auggie grinned into her hand and asked, "How are you doing?"

"Hmm," she murmured, practically purring as he settled over her once more. His weight and heat was remarkably comforting and she grinned up at him as she replied, "I don't know about you, but I'm doing pretty good right now."

His grin turned over-confident, but at the moment she could care less. "Good to hear," he quipped, quickly kissing the inside of her palm. His hand pressed into her hip, and she automatically made more than enough room for him, looping her legs around the back of his and her arms around the back of his neck.

Annie kissed him, and then he shifted and they were together and her breath caught in her chest. He must've felt the same way, because he tore his mouth away from hers with a gasp. Her fingernails dug into his shoulders and she hiked her legs higher around his hip, earning another desperate gasp from him.

They were so close that Auggie had no problem locking eyes with her, however incidentally, but it was making it extremely hard for her to concentrate and catch her breath. A tiny whimper escaped her as he began to move.

He purposely set a steady rhythm, and her toes were already curling again, heels digging into his back. His mouth couldn't stay away from hers for longer than a few seconds. Annie tried to reciprocate as much as possible, her tongue sliding against his eagerly.

She swiveled her hips under his, catching him off-guard. Auggie groaned her name, making her shiver as the word reverberated through him and into her. She tried it again, this time breaking his perfect rhythm.

He dug his fingers into the side of her hip, trying to restrain her as much as he could. She was losing her grip on his shoulders, slipping on his sweat-slicked skin. Annie matched him, move for move, but her body was starting to lose control.

Auggie pulled his mouth away from hers, burying his face in her neck as he continued to move inside her at a faster and faster rate. With every thrust, moans escaped the back of her throat, each one at a higher pitch than the last. When his hand slipped from her hip down between their joined bodies, she broke.

Her muscles seized, and she must've groaned his name or something because someone said, "_Auggie_," but she was too busy losing her mind all around him. She did, however, hear when he tumbled over the edge, his hipbones digging into hers as he pulsed and shook inside her.

She clutched him close to her, and when he finally finished he collapsed against her, murmuring her name in her ear weakly. Annie whimpered something incomprehensible to her own ears in response, but Auggie didn't seem to mind too much as he gently kissed and licked the sweat off her skin.

Her legs loosened around his hips, her muscles protesting some. His hands drifted along her sides, and she shivered helplessly when he brushed the sides of her breasts. "So worth it," he muttered, and the unexpected comment made her laugh breathlessly.

Auggie began to pull away from her, and it sent little shockwaves through her system. She shut her eyes against the sensations, letting him part and dispose of the condom in a waste basket by the bed. "Does that mean you're willing to try this again?" she asked, half-joking, half-serious.

"Wasn't aware not was an option," he replied easily, happily returning back to her and wrapping his arms around her waist. She nuzzled her face into his damp bangs, grinning along at his response. "You've already stuck around for this long, I'm definitely not going to want to get rid of you _now_."

She laughed as he rolled them over, shoving the comforter and sheets out from under them with his shoulders and elbows without ever letting go of her. "You're bad," she said as he slid the blankets the rest of the way and yanked them back over their bodies. "But fortunately for you, you're very comfortable."

They were completely wrapped up in one another, and she really couldn't think of a better situation to be in. Still, she needed to ask one more thing. "So you think this'll last more than one day?"

Auggie's fingers walked up the length of her spine, and she could feel him smile into her skin. "Oh, I expect this to last much longer than one day."

$4$

_This is so damn long._ Sorry. It needed to be said, because… _this is so damn long_.

On Word it's over 11 pages long (and about 5,500 words). By comparison, _That's One Solution_ was only about 7, and _Static Cling_ was only about 6. To date, this is my longest prompt.

And I really, really hope you guys liked it.


	24. House Rules

I'm really impressed I'm already starting another **30_Kisses**. I'm proud that I'm going through a pretty speedy production, because I would love to finish this before the year is over.

This was really fun to write, and a complete 180 from the last prompt. I think my brain needed a little hiatus from the smut. I know, I'm shocked, too. Apparently it really does have a limit. O.o

$4$

**Prompt:** 10. #10

_We should get jerseys, 'cuz we make a good team  
But yours would look better than mine, 'cuz you're out of my league_

- "Must Have Done Something Right," by Relient K

* * *

"I'm really sorry I had to drag you along to this," Annie mumbled into Auggie's ear. The stands erupted in cheers all around them, and she didn't miss the way he flinched slightly.

Still, that didn't wipe the grin off his face for a second, and he knocked her shoulder against his comfortingly. "How many times have I told you, Walker? I love the sound of the stampeding herd in the morning."

"You do know I took you to see a girls' soccer game and _not_ a bunch of wildebeest in the Serengeti, right?" she joked, taking a sip from her water bottle.

Auggie tilted his head towards her, and dropping the volume of his voice conspiratorially. "Are you telling me there's a difference?"

She laughed loudly in surprise, startling a couple of the parents. One of the soccer moms in particular whipped around and glared at her, shocking her into silence.

She jabbed her elbow into his side, making him jump and wince. "You always get me into trouble," she grumbled. "The soccer moms all resent me as it is."

He chuckled at her discomfort. "And why is that?"

"Because I'm young and childless," Annie replied dryly.

Her response surprised him, and he laughed loud enough to earn another glare from the same mom She elbowed him again, hushing him as she hissed, "You know it's true!"

Auggie continued to chuckle to himself unheedingly, stretching his shoulders and draping his arm over the back of the bleachers they were sitting against. "Maybe it's just because you're sitting next to me."

Annie rolled her eyes. "You're hilarious," she replied sarcastically. She had noticed quite a few soccer moms giving him second looks, but there was no way she was admitting that. "And _so_ humble."

"Hey, I'm just saying," Auggie replied, subtly wrapping his arm around her shoulder. There was a slight chill picking up in the air, a sure sign that winter was coming. "It's a possibility."

"Yeah, you wish," she muttered. The ball rolled towards the stands, and ten or fifteen eight-and-nine-year-old girls came thundering by, eliciting more cheers and calls from the stands. Annie smiled at one of the little girls in the canary yellow jersey, knocking her shoulder into Auggie's side to get his attention. "Chloe just passed the ball," she whispered into his ear, passing on the information he couldn't see.

She wasn't expecting him to squeeze her shoulder and lean forward, shouting, "Go Chloe! You're doing great!"

Somehow, he managed to be one of the loudest people on their side of the stands. More people turned around and stared, and Annie ducked her head into his shoulder, pinching his hip. "Oh my God, you're so loud. People are staring."

Auggie grinned, always happy to embarrass her. "What?" he said, pretending to be clueless. "I'm proud."

"That's lovely," she hissed, sinking further into the bleachers they were sitting against as people continued to stare at them curiously. "Now try being proud quieter."

"That's less fun."

Annie suppressed another eye-roll and unscrewed the cap of her water bottle and took another drink. Glancing at Auggie out of the corner of her eye, she gently tapped the bottle against his chest. "Want some?"

Auggie took the water gratefully, flashing a smile in thanks. One of the soccer moms—one of the few that hadn't spent any time glaring at Annie—a pretty brunette, smiled at them. "Which one is yours?"

Auggie had been mid-sip, and as Annie's eyes widened she heard him choke and start coughing next to her. "Oh, umm—" she stuttered, inhaling quickly. "Number 10."

The brunette glanced back, quickly finding Chloe's number in the melee as Annie tried to find a proper response. "Oh, she's adorable," she cooed.

Annie blinked, her mouth partially open. "Yes. Thanks," she replied robotically. "But she's not—I'm her aunt."

The mom looked at her curiously, a funny smile hovering on her slightly plump face. "I know," she said, cocking her head. "I'm friends with Danielle. You're her baby sister, right?"

Auggie, who up until then had been tense with shock, let out a bark of shocked laughter at her blasé yet unexpected answer. Annie opened and closed her mouth desperately, a bright red blush blooming across her cheeks. She never seen this woman before, honest.

Danielle and I are both class moms this year," she explained. Danielle was a class mom? This was the first time Annie had heard of it. "I've seen pictures of you on the walls in Dani's house."

Her blush only deepened, but she managed to remember her manners. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she apologized. "I'm Annie, if you don't already know that."

"Beth," she introduced herself, pushing some curly hair out of her face. "My daughter's number is 28."

From far away, Annie spotted the girl girl—and instantly recognized her. Chloe had her over a few times for dinner and sleepovers. Annie smiled and said, "I never realized that was your daughter! At least I have a face to a name now."

They laughed, and then there was this awkward beat when Beth glanced over and Annie realized she had completely forgotten about the guy she was leaning against. "Oh! And this is Auggie Anderson," she said. He flashed her a friendly smile automatically. "He's a friend of mine."

Beth grinned knowingly. "Ah. So you're taking the opportunity of this beautiful day… to watch pee-wee soccer?"

Annie ran her fingers through her naturally-tousled hair and tried not to notice how Auggie tightened his grip around her shoulders automatically. "I have a kind of hectic job," she explained with a wince. "So I don't get to see my nieces as often as I'd like."

"That's really great," Beth said sincerely. A tall, wiry man in Army fatigues stopped by edge of the bleachers and waved, catching their attention. Beth brightened and waved back excitedly. Distractedly, she looked back at them and added, "Oh, I'm sorry. If you don't mind, that's my husband. It was wonderful to meet you!"

"Yeah. Nice to meet you too!" Annie replied, watching with a grin as she all but skipped down the bleachers to meet her husband. "I don't know how they do it."

"Beth and her husband?" Auggie asked, cocking his head towards her. "Or Beth and your sister?"

"The latter," she answered tiredly, leaning half against him, half against the bleachers. "I can barely keep my life together and I'm just taking care of myself. I can't imagine doing that with kids."

"I think it's a learning process," he observed wisely. His thumb swiped against her shoulder back and forth lazily, warming her bare skin. "I imagine there's a lot of mental cursing involved."

Annie snickered at his humor but shook her head. "I don't think I can do it," she told him, eyes tracking the girls running back and forth across the field. "At least, not as well as my sister and the rest of these women do."

"The rest of these women are psychotic," he said without missing a beat, earning him a snort. "With the exception of Danielle and Beth. But that doesn't mean they're not crazy in their own right, too."

She smiled softly. "They may all be crazy, but that doesn't mean they're not all amazing moms."

"You're going to be a good mom."

Annie made a dismissive noise in the back of her throat, and Auggie immediately picked out amongst all the sounds in the crowd. He pulled her against him, drawing her closer than necessary to get her attention. "Hey," he murmured, tucking her head under his chin. "You are going to be a great mom. I'll never think any different."

Her face was buried in his shoulder, and she was grateful for it, because that way no one could see the flush that had spread across her face and chest. His words repeated in her head, and the sincerity behind it filled her with warmth. He thought she was going to be a great mom.

"Do you agree that I'm obviously right?" he asked, tilting so his nose was buried in the crown of her head. She nodded, smiling to herself a little as his fingers looped through her hair and her cupped the back of her head.

"You might be right," she mumbled into his neck. His grip tightened slightly, but she ignored it as she added, "But we have no way of knowing that. So I'm going to continue to be doubtful until I have evidence otherwise."

He didn't let her go immediately—she tried to pretend she minded but gave up after five seconds—so she continued. "I think it'll depend largely on my mindset at the time," she admitted. She still didn't have a whole lot of faith in herself, but that didn't mean she couldn't be proven wrong. "And, y'know, my husband."

Auggie didn't say anything at first. They hardly ever talked about marriage and families and happy endings, probably in part to the fact those were all rare in their career field. He had mentioned once that he had seriously considered all of those things when he had been with Tash, but it had obviously never worked out.

Annie liked to think she had considered at least one of those endings for her and Ben, but even years ago, she knew there was no hope of traditional if Ben Mercer was involved.

He stirred, bringing her out of her own thoughts, and he finally released her, but not before pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "You're going to have your own picket fence ending one day."

She smiled up at him, wrapping her arms around his torso and pulling him back for a quick, impromptu hug. "Thanks, Aug," she whispered, and then let him go and pulled away. "You're going to have one of those endings, too."

Auggie chuckled, turning his head back towards the sounds of the soccer game. He didn't, however, move fast enough for her to miss a darkness pass over his eyes. "Well, let's not go that far," he mumbled, propping his elbows up on his knees.

"Oh, no," she said, knocking her shoulder against his side and wraps her hand around his bicep. "You are not getting away with that. If I'm going to be a great mom with a happy ending, there's no reason why you won't end up as a great dad with a happy ending as well."

She propped her cheek on his shoulder so he knew he couldn't get away—figuratively or literally. "You're not going to let this go until I agree," he observed.

"Nope," she replied cheerfully, popping the 'p.' "I learn from the best."

Auggie chuckled. "Fine," he said, grinning widely. "I will one day be a great dad with a happy ending, too."

"Good," she said, squeezing his bicep. "And I'll make sure to keep bothering you all throughout your lifetime."

He turned back to her, his smile going crooked as his eyes inadvertently settled on her. "What makes you think I'm letting you go anywhere?"

Annie laughed, shaking her head as her hair tumbled over and onto his shoulder. "I knew there was a reason you're my best friend."

She wondered absentmindedly what they would be like in another decade from now—what her husband would look like, what his wife would be like, if their jobs would've changed at all in that time. The idea of settling down seemed so foreign to her, but she figured if she had the right guy maybe it would be worth it.

She had only been paying half-attention to the game, lost in her own wonderings, until she saw Chloe racing down the field, dribbling the ball between her legs. She ducked around another girl, paused, and kicked the ball.

"Oh my God!" Annie sprang up in her seat, jumping and cheering and scaring all the soccer moms out of their wits. "Oh my God! Go Chloe!"

She realized Auggie had no idea why she was freaking out. She smacked his arm, still bouncing up and down as she exclaimed, "Chloe just scored a goal! Stand up stand up stand up!"

Auggie laughed at her hectic overreaction, but stood up next to her, cheering just as loudly and obnoxiously.

Annie hadn't been keeping such a good eye on the time, but when she looked over at the clock she realized how much time had passed. "There's thirty seconds left!"

They continued to cheer excitedly, even though Auggie couldn't see the game and Annie hadn't been paying near enough attention to the first half. The clock ticked down as the girls continued to sprint back and forth across the field. When the air horn sounded, the two of them shouted even louder, jumping up and down in the stands.

Annie grabbed Auggie and hugged him again, grinning from ear to ear. He hugged her back just as tightly, crushing her against his soft hoodie.

The girls split into their two teams, lined up and shook hands. Once they were done, Chloe immediately broke from the pack, half-jogging over to the bleachers. She was sweaty and red-faced and looked tiny and absolutely adorable. "Aunt Annie!" she cried, waving her arms.

Annie waved back. "Auggie too!" she called, pointing to him happily.

"You guys are so loud!" Chloe exclaimed once she was closer, and Annie realized belatedly at least part of that flush was from embarrassment.

Annie managed to stop cheering, but still continued to bounce up and down. Auggie didn't really bother to hide his pride and asked, "We should be! You scored the final goal!"

Chloe stepped onto the bleachers, skirting some of the parents that were beginning to pack up. "Yeah," she said, half-smiling. "But we still lost the game!"

Auggie paused. "Oh. Really?" he asked, turning towards Annie for a moment. Just as she opened her mouth, he shrugged and opened up his arms. "Who cares? You scored a goal! That's awesome!"

Annie chuckled and then bounced again, happy that he didn't let it rain on his parade. She wrapped her arms around Chloe's slim shoulders and squeezed tightly. "We're proud of you no matter what. Who cares if the other team won? You guys still all did fantastically!"

Chloe's voice was muffled as she replied, "You guys are silly."

Annie leaned against Auggie's chest, and he automatically draped his arm around her shoulders. "We are absolutely silly," he agreed. "But I wouldn't complain because we have a strict every-soccer-goal-gets-ice-cream policy."

Chloe pulled away, her tiny face bright and shining instantly. "Really?" she asked. "Ice cream?"

Annie shot a dirty look in Auggie's direction—not that he could tell—but she turned back to Chloe and nodded. "Yes, we can get ice cream," she said, tapping Chloe on her little nose. "But we have to get some for your mom and dad and Katia, too."

Chloe grinned excitedly. "Yay! Thank you!"

"You're welcome," she replied, smoothing down some of her niece's crazier flyaways. "Now go back to your teammates and when you're done we can get ice cream!"

Chloe nodded and sprinted off. Annie watched her go happily, but she turned back to Auggie with a glare. "You are _such_ a bad influence," she grumbled, digging her elbow into his side. "Ice cream? Seriously?"

"What?" he asked innocently, his arm dropping from her shoulder down to her waist. "That's what we did in my house! Ice cream for a well-played game."

She laughed, not noticing that they were the only two left in the bleachers. "How were you never a fat kid?" she asked in wonder.

"Soccer, wrestling, and a wonderful metabolism," he quipped. They were standing close together, and while it was completely platonic, Annie couldn't help but think about their conversation on parenting. She genuinely believed he was going to be a great dad, and this instance didn't prove her wrong. In fact, she could very easily picture settling down with a guy like him.

This was a dangerous train of thought, but she couldn't resist weighing the facts. She knew Auggie was good with kids—he put up with Chloe and her class of third graders, and to this day Danielle still gushed about him, full-knowing that he didn't _really_ work for the Smithsonian—but she also knew Auggie had his faults as well. He was a 'ladies' man'—the snarkier part of her brain had a few more colorful words for it—and he was about as willing to settle down at that moment as she was. But as she studied him for a few seconds longer, she couldn't deny that she could definitely enjoy marrying someone a lot like him.

Auggie cocked his head to the side, confusion appearing on his face thanks to her unexpected silence. "Annie? You still in there?"

"Sorry," she said automatically. As the wind picked up again, he ran his hands up and down her back, keeping her warm. "I just spaced out for a little bit."

He smiled, even as she snuggled closer against the chill. "I told you that you don't have to worry about being a good mom."

She chuckled, shaking her head into his chest. "We still haven't seen actual proof of that yet," she reminded him. "So don't start getting all I-told-you-so-about this."

Auggie squeezed her waist teasingly, and there was a tiny, evil little voice in the back of her head that wondered if he ever considered her to be something like someone he'd want to settle down with one day. Annie blushed guiltily at the rather improper thought, happy for once he couldn't see her expression.

"I don't need to wait a decade to say I told you so," he replied cheekily, his smile wide and confident.

She laughed harder than before and wrapped her arm around Auggie in return. "You really are impossible sometimes," she replied, dodging the statement as she knocked her knee against his own.

"It's amazing you can put up with me," he said, pretending to be sympathetic to her plight.

"It really is," Annie agreed gravely. They were grinning at each other like fools and all she could think was yeah, she could see herself marrying a guy like Auggie.

"Now, c'mon," she said, breaking her daydream and getting back to business. "Let's get going. I'm sure Chloe will be done getting changed soon. Then it's ice cream time."

Auggie's smile turned dashing as he replied, "You know I can't turn down a pretty blonde offering free ice cream."

"Whoa, buster. Who said anything about _free_ ice cream?"

"Aww, don't kill my dreams."

$4$

This was longer than I anticipated—I figured it would top at 4 pages, and instead it's almost double—but it ended exactly the way I pictured it so I'm good. :) You guys know how much I enjoy writing cute fluffy nonsense, and I think this fits the bill quite nicely.

And I haven't got the chance to bitch about this yet, but I am _so_ sick of Eyal. Most of it comes from the fact that I don't like his character, but I was extremely displeased that Annie hooked up with him. He's just so… smarmy.

(I totally miss Doctor Scott.)

But I think Parker's cute. She provides a good way to keep Auggie and Annie apart, without the mess of me wanting to stab her with something pointy.


	25. Truthfully, Honestly, Hopefully

It's so nice to actually write and complete something in a somewhat regular basis, particularly now that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel (I only have 5 left to go!).

This is probably just T, maybe a hard T at worst, but still definitely sexier than the last prompt. This was also probably the easiest plot for me to think up—I think I've always wanted to write something along these lines, and I'm kind of surprised that took me 'til now to actually try it out. I think part of it had something to do with the fact that quite a few of you have tried something similar and it's always gone fantastic so I've never thought to really try it myself.

$4$

**Prompt:** 25. Fence

_I live a lifestyle full of first impressions  
I've got my hands full of unhealthy obsessions  
She bites my lip, I'm sure to follow  
We take a drink to the guilty and the hollow_

- "Toxic Valentine," by All Time Low

* * *

Annie's grip tightened fractionally around his wrist, and if he wasn't already fully aware of the situation at hand, he would be able to tell just by the frantic waves she was giving off. Once more, she had inadvertently dragged him into another op, and while he would never complain about her willingness to get him involved, he really needed to talk to someone about that circle of chaos that seemed to surround her constantly.

She had taken him on a rather innocuous lunch trip to Panera's, but of course nothing was ever simple or innocuous with her. Her mark had spotted her, and before he knew it she was dragging him out of there.

"I was only half-finished with my bread bowl," he whined, a little out of breath as she continued to relentlessly drag him down the street. For someone so tiny, she walked fast when she had a purpose. "I hadn't even gotten to the bread part yet!"

"Quit complaining," she mumbled out of the corner of her mouth. "I will take you back to Panera's again and buy you another bread bowl. But first, we need to—"

Her words were cut short as she skidded to a halt, nearly knocking him over in the process. "We've got a problem," she hissed, turning on him. "A guy's tailing us. I saw him in Panera's. He was keeping a good distance but now that we've stopped he's stopped. He's pretending to check his phone."

"So what do you wanna do, Chief?" he quipped, keeping the mood light as he began racking his brain for possible solutions.

"Trying to figure that one out," Annie muttered, and she shifted closer to him, invading his personal space with the scent of her perfume and shampoo. If he could still see, he bet he could count the colors in her eyes at this point.

"Is he coming closer?" he asked, squeezing her wrist rhythmically to keep her calm and aware.

"Umm… yes. Looks like he's inching forward slowly," she said quietly. She had forgone the heels today, and he felt strands of her hair brush his face when she turned her head quickly.

"What are we near?" he prompted, ducking his head and getting another wave of grapefruit in the process.

"Uhh—middle of the street. Couple shops. Mostly empty," Annie whispered and he could feel her turning her head again as she looked around. "And there's a little alleyway right next to us—it's only like ten yards long, with a dumpster and a chain link fence at the end."

Auggie shut his eyes, picturing everything, but they snapped back open when she finished her response. "Perfect," he answered, and his hand travelled up her forearm, catching just above her elbow. "Come here."

She followed him willingly, even though this was rapidly becoming one weird, drawn out blind joke. "Where are we going?" she hissed, her mouth distractingly close to his ear.

"To the alley," he replied, still ushering them along.

"Oh, well then," she said, and then tugged him about half a foot to the right. "You're walking us into a wall."

Auggie resisted a smirk at her shift. "Thanks," he muttered. "The blind guy can only do so much James Bond-ing."

"Oh, I know," Annie muttered, staying closer to him than necessary at all times. "Now is there any particular reason that we're going into this alleyway?"

"Are we alone?" he replied with another question, leading her further down the alley. They were far enough that the buildings on either side of them obscured the sun, cooling the slightly dank alley considerably.

"Yes," she said, letting him nudge her back towards one of the building walls. "Last I checked, he was starting to follow us. About fifteen feet away."

When her back hit the wall, he could tell she was looking up at him expectantly, but he was temporarily distracted congratulating himself for not tripping over anything or knocking either one of them over. "Aug?" she asked, her voice sounding decidedly light and a little breathless to his eagle ears. "What's the plan?"

There it was. The idea had taken two seconds to take hold, but now that they were here he needed to pause and reconsider some things. Mostly if this was all going to be worth it at the end of the day when Joan assuredly decided to castrate him with her bare hands. "Do you trust me?" he asked, and he tried not to notice the sudden thrill of nervousness creeping up his spine.

Annie froze, confused by his question, or maybe just by his hand creeping up, past her shoulder and along her neck, cupping under her chin. "Yes, I do," she told him honestly.

His thumb brushed her cheek, finding the corner of her mouth. He felt the sharp intake of breath, the way her lips parted just slightly. And then he dipped down and pressed his lips against hers.

It was more than a little cliché, but there was a reason that it was such a spy game classic. She was going to kill him later on, he was sure of it, but it was honestly the first solid plan he could think of to effectively lose their tail.

He hovered even closer to her, tilting his head, half out of necessity and half out of instinct.

He waited, letting the seconds pass by as he tried to measure how long it would take for their tail to spot them. But with each second, he forgot a little faster why they were standing in that damn alleyway.

Hesitantly, he felt Annie kiss him back, and he was so distracted by the softness of her lips against his that the memory of why they were doing this disappeared like a puff of smoke. Thoughtlessly, he tilted her jaw in his hand, angling her perfectly as his other arm snaked around her back.

A little extra pressure and her lips opened under his. Temptation proved too great, and he couldn't prevent the groan that welled up in his chest when he tasted her on his tongue.

Running on instinct, Auggie flattened himself against her, his hand spanning the small of her back and making her arch into him. His senses, what was left of them, were overloading on her. His other hand left her jaw and tangled in her hair, savoring the texture of her underneath his fingertips.

At some point, she had yanked his button-down out from where it had been tucked in his pants and when her hands pressed into his suddenly hot skin he gasped into her mouth.

Annie's short fingernails walked up his back, seemingly cataloging muscles. He slid his knee between her legs, and she whimpered throatily in response.

Things had gotten swiftly out of his control, and he was having a hard time remembering why that was a problem, particularly when her tongue stroked eagerly against his. However, breathing was becoming an issue, so he tore his mouth from hers, yanking his head back.

His thoughts were swimming all over the place, but somehow he was able to remember the original purpose of his decision. "Is he here?"

"What?" she asked, sounding more confused than ever. But more importantly than that, she was breathless and with just the slightest trembling whimper, and it sent what little blood left in his head south.

"Is the guy—the tail—is he here?" he asked, leaning his head closer to her again. It was a bad idea, because as it was he was already having one hell of a time keeping his libido in under wraps. But as much as the rational part of his brain told himself that, he couldn't resist. Some things just couldn't be helped.

"Oh," she murmured, finally understanding. She sounded disappointed, and he tried not to get his hopes up too much. "He's, umm—he's here. By the front of the building. Kind of hanging back."

They hadn't quite given him good enough of a show. Slightly problematic, but more than doable. "Was that why you—" _kissed me_, but she stopped before she could get the words out. It didn't matter, because he knew what she meant immediately.

"Yes," he answered honestly. At least, it had been honest in the beginning. But now he was starting to find several more reasons to try again. "You can punch me later, but if you want to get rid of him, we're going to have to—"

He felt her nodding in his hand, and he leaned closer once more, giving her fair warning. Although, it turned out to be particularly useless when she closed the distance with an intense kiss of her own.

He knew Annie—sometimes he wondered if he knew her better than he knew himself—but with all that knowledge he hadn't been expecting her to go along with it so easily. Not that there was any chance he was going to complain. Particularly not when she returned her hands to his skin, tracing little circles and figure eights into the small of his back and eliciting more goosebumps.

There was more of a desperate need to the kiss now, as if she knew this wasn't going to happen again and she wanted to make the most of it. He was more than happy to go along with that logic, following a line of kisses across her jaw, under her ear, and along her neck. As he did, his hands slid past her jacket and under her sweater, gratified by the impossibly soft skin.

Annie felt hot to the touch, like her skin was feverish and he couldn't get enough of it. He put all his concentration into following the steady, comforting beat of her pulse with his lips and teeth. Annie's nails bit into his skin, and he heard her whimper, "Auggie," into his ear.

It spurred him on, because while she was his best friend in every sense of the platonic phrase, he could admit to more than a few fantasies where she played a very important role—and nothing made this more real than her voice desperately murmuring his name in his ear. He dug his fingers into her waist, nipping the skin under her jaw with a little more force than necessary, probably leaving a mark in the process. But the breathy little cry she let out in response made it more than worth it.

She shifted restlessly against him, one of her legs hooking around the back of his knee like she couldn't get close enough to him. The feeling was mutual, particularly when she dug her fingers into his back and moaned helplessly. He could get addicted to this.

As much as he did want to, desperately, now was not the time and definitely not the location. Auggie pulled back slowly, in increments, slowing the kisses along her skin but not that air of desperation and heat between them. Her hands left his back but she buried them instead in his hair, keeping him close. Their noses bumped against one another affectionately as their panted breaths mixed together. "Auggie?" she asked, so breathless that this time his name came out as a half-moan.

He shut his eyes, trying to commit the sound of her voice to memory in case he was never able to go back to this point with her in his life.

"Auggie?" she said again, her fingers brushing and tucking his hair behind his ears. Slowly, very slowly, he moved his hands from her sweater, relishing the feel of her as long as he could. "Auggie, he's gone."

He froze, reminded of the actual ulterior motive of this entire exchange. He had taken advantage of her under the guise of their job. An impressive amount of guilt washed over him, his muscles tensing at the thought.

"I guess we should probably get back to the office," she whispered. Their breaths had begun to calm, and that heat that had spiked between them cooled down to a flicker but didn't disappear completely. "Joan will probably want to hear about our tail."

Auggie nodded, but didn't miss the way she had yet to remove her fingers from his hair. He wished he could study her expression, see if she was as disappointed as he felt. "That's probably a good idea," he murmured, trying his damnedest not to lean forward and kiss her again. If he tried again, there was no way he could convince her he was still doing it for the sake of their safety.

"Then I guess we should…" she trailed off, inhaling shakily. "I guess we should go now."

That was a clear, break away now and pretend like this was all part of the job statement. "Right," he said, but instead of stepping back he stayed put. "That's the… smart plan."

"Yeah," she mumbled, but she sounded distant. Distracted. Perfect. "We should…"

"Leave," he finished. And he really had every intention of doing just that, but she moved her head just so and he could feel her warm breath against his lips and got another whiff of her delicious perfume and he realized the last thing in the world he wanted to do was move.

He kissed her again, gentler than the first two times. Her fingers slid out of his hair and instead clutched at his jaw, stroking his cheekbones encouragingly.

This last time he didn't allow for much reciprocation. He wrapped her close, kissing her sincerely, but then released her and backed away.

He knew her coloring, and a very hazy idea of what she looked like, but there was no way he could ever predict her expressions. In his mind, her brown eyes were soft and wide and her lips were slightly bruised and still parted invitingly…

"What was that for?" she whispered, the words so quiet he could've missed them had not every inch of his body been attuned to her.

Auggie shrugged, one shoulder rising as his attempt to be cavalier failed miserably when coupled with the raw desperation on his face. "Not sure," he admitted slowly, praying her next move wouldn't be to slap him and bolt. "I just wanted to."

Annie sucked in a shaky breath, and his nerves and that voice in the corner of his brain told him to write off his response, make a joke about it so she didn't think he was _really_ serious—even if that was the farthest thing from the truth. But his tongue stayed glued to the roof of his mouth, and he didn't say anything.

"Oh," she said. Was she surprised or disappointed or freaked out? Honestly, he couldn't remember the last time he was this nervous around a woman. It would be because of Annie.

"Sorry," he apologized, finally finding his voice again. Jesus, he felt like a heel. "I didn't mean to—"

"It's okay," she interrupted, stepping forward, her flats almost silent against the concrete. "I didn't mind. Honest."

Annie touched his forearm, and he jumped a little at the contact. He exhaled, and he realized he sounded just as unsteady as she had been moments before. His hand covered hers, and when she squeezed his fingers he felt a genuine smile work its way across his face.

She took another step, and this time it brought her perfectly in line with Auggie, only a few inches of heat separating their bodies from touching. "In fact," she whispered close to his ear, and there was a new teasing lilt that hadn't been there before that made every molecule of his being stand on end. "After work is over, I truly wouldn't mind if you tried it again. If you wanted."

"That," he said, cocking his head towards her and grinning widely, "Is definitely doable."

$4$

So we've only got two more episodes of _CA_ left to go this season… I'm sad, but I'm looking forward to that new cop show they're planning on premiering during winter break. It reminds me of _Starsky & Hutch_ (oh, yeah, my parents were very cool) meets _Psych_. USA usually has several options to keep me distracted. ;)

I don't know when exactly I'll have time to complete my next prompt, but I'm really really hoping to have this done by the end of the year, God willing. Mind you, I'm saying this days before Hell Week starts and my campus and then we're into the thick of finals… well. We'll see.

(Seriously. Really, really hoping.)

But I hope you guy's liked this new prompt!


	26. The Great Christmas Plot

I meant to write something Christmas-related last year… but obviously I wasn't able to accomplish that much. XD So here I am, trying again once more in the hopes that everything will work out before my inspiration dies a swift and brutal death.

Once more, this isn't particularly inappropriate. Just fun and a teeny bit sexy.

$4$

**Prompt:** 20. The road home

_I won't ask for much this Christmas, I won't even wish for snow  
I'm just gonna keep on waiting underneath the mistletoe  
I won't make a list and send it to the North Pole for Saint Nick  
I won't even stay awake to hear the magic reindeer play_  
'_Cuz I just want you here tonight, holding onto me so tight  
What more can I do?  
Baby, all I want for Christmas is you_

- "All I Want for Christmas (is You)" by My Chemical Romance (in my opinion, far superior to the Mariah Carey version)

* * *

"You're telling me you never had one?"

Behind the wheel, Annie shook her head and laughed. "No," she repeated. "I told you I've never had one."

"How is that possible?" Auggie questioned, cocking his head. He'd been absolutely baffled by her answer for the last five minutes, like he kept expecting her to burst out that she had been screwing with him this whole time. "It's like you've never had Christmas!"

She laughed, this time mostly from his absolute horror. "Okay, let's not be melodramatic," she replied. "I still had _Christmas_."

"But you didn't have a Christmas _tree_," he pointed out, unwilling to back down. "That's like no Christmas!"

"Hey," she said, annoyed, flicking on her turn signal and slowing to a stop. "We _had _a Christmas tree. It just happened to be a fake one."

"Exactly!" he said animatedly, almost shouting as he pointed in her direction triumphantly—and missed by a few inches. "_Fake_—not real!"

Annie rolled her eyes, turning the wheel. "We moved to a different base like every other year. Sometimes more! It was more practical to just keep a fake one with us as we moved around. It wasn't always easy to find a Douglas fir, you know."

"It's not the same," he told her, stubborn as ever. "And blue spruce is far superior to Douglas."

She huffed, drumming her fingers against the steering wheel half-mindedly. "Yeah, well, you're just going to have to get over it," she replied shortly, grinning mostly to herself. "Because we had a fake tree and I always thought it was lovely."

"It's not the same though," he repeated stubbornly.

"I know it's not the same," she said wryly. "It actually lasts longer than a month and a half."

Auggie turned his head towards her, glaring at her for her snarkiness. "You do not get to knock real trees. They are way better than plastic ones."

Annie stared out at the inky black landscape, her headlights cutting the darkness only about fifteen yards in front of them. "Your 'superior' trees are too difficult to maintain for an Army brat."

He made a noise in the back of his throat, and she looked over at him wildly, convinced she must've misheard him. "Did you just _growl_ at me?" she asked, shocked.

"No, I did not just _growl_," he replied, but she noticed with a quick glance that the tips of his ears were rapidly turning pink.

Annie grinned. It wasn't often that she made Auggie blush. "You totally growled at me," she disagreed, slowing down as they entered the neighborhood. "You just turned into Scrooge Cujo!"

"Now look who's being melodramatic," he grumbled, his brow furrowing petulantly.

She laughed at his over the top pouting, her eyes following the brightly lit and sometimes over-decorated cookie cutter houses. "I just can't believe you take this whole Christmas tree thing so seriously."

"It is serious," he replied, dropping the pout to go back to his original argument. "It's an important part of the authentic Christmas experience."

Annie laughed at his know-it-all tone, and quickly shot him a dirty look. "You're just making stuff up."

"I'm not making anything up," he responded haughtily. "And you'll understand my logic perfectly when I get us a blue spruce tree next week."

Her eyebrows shot up on the use of the word 'us.' "And how do you plan on dragging this mythical blue spruce back to your apartment—I'm assuming you'll be keeping it at your place, because God knows I have no room for it."

"Of course we'll be keeping it at my place," he replied, no-nonsense. "And you'll be surprised what people are willing to do for you when you're pretty and ask nicely."

At his wide, charming grin, Annie busted out laughing. Lucky for him and her car, she had just pulled into Danielle's driveway and they were at an almost complete stop. In between pants and wheezes of laughter, she managed to reply, "I can't believe you just said that!"

Auggie frowned at her reaction, particularly when it took her several minutes to get her thoughts in order and let her laughter die down. Finally, she put her VW in park and turned towards him. "Tell you what," she said, still pretty breathless. "You actually manage to get a blue spruce a week and a half before Christmas, I'll take a whole day out of my vacation time and decorate it with you."

His initial frown spread into a gigantic smile, and she was immediately reminded of a little kid. She bet he was really cute when he was little. "You've got a deal," he agreed.

She knew he was going to make that tree happen, even if she wasn't sure how. She learned very early on not to doubt Auggie's resourcefulness, sight or no sight. He was pretty creative—or crazy—like that.

She turned off the ignition and pocketed her keys, and as they stepped out of the car she snickered to herself. "You should know right now that if I decorate with you we have to use those multicolored lights."

Auggie exited as well, and right before he left he picked up the hefty cloth bag by his feet and handed it over to her. He grinned and found her arm, wrapping his fingers around the skin above her elbow. "I was always more partial to all white, now that I think about it," he replied wistfully, and she was sure he was probably picturing a Christmas tree from years before.

"Too bad," she replied shortly with a little laugh. "The multicolored ones were way prettier so that's what we're using."

"Whoa whoa whoa," he said, slowing down in the driveway and pulling her back by her arm. "This is still my Christmas tree. I get final decision on the color of the Christmas tree lights."

"Or I could tell you I got white lights but really decorate with the multicolored ones," she said, grinning diabolically to herself as she and Auggie walked up the driveway.

He gasped dramatically, clutching his chest dramatically with his free hand. "You would do that to a blind guy?" he asked, eyes wide.

"Oh, don't even try that crap on me," Annie replied, laughing loudly. "You are hardly a poor defenseless blind guy. Picking on you is more than fair."

They stepped at Danielle's front porch, and he turned towards her, frowning once more. "It is completely unfair," he expressed. "But you know what, I'm going to be bigger person and allow multicolored lights."

She narrowed her eyes and grumbled at his sense of charity, and she stepped closer so that, in her heels, she was almost eye-to-eye with him. "Oh yeah, you are _such_ a bigger person," she replied sarcastically, unable to hide her smirk.

"I am," he agreed, leaning closer. "In fact—"

"Annie! There you are!" Danielle shouted, yanking the door open. Her blonde hair was piled on the top of her head, and there were two bright red spots on either side of her cheeks that were rapidly growing brighter with each passing second. "And Auggie! Why are you guys standing out here? It's cold!"

Annie smiled at her sister's volume, and that smile stretched even wider when Auggie squeezed her arm, silently conveying exactly what he thought. "Sorry, Danielle," she apologized, turning away from Auggie and stepping towards the door. "We got distracted talking about Christmas trees. But I brought wine!"

Danielle cooed appreciatively, happily taking the proffered bottle. Auggie and Annie walked into the doorway, but before they could get more than a step, Danielle stopped them, hands out. "Where do you think you're going?" she asked, eyes sparkling.

She pointed up, and Annie didn't need to look to know what her sister had done. "There's mistletoe in the doorway, isn't there?" Auggie asked, tilting his head towards her ear as Danielle continued to grin maniacally.

"Unfortunately, yes," she mumbled, shooting her sister a weak glare.

"C'mon," Danielle said with a quick double-clap. "It's part of the Christmas experience!"

Auggie smiled, turning his head towards her once more. "You seem to be hearing that phrase a lot lately," he observed quietly. His thumb was stroking back and forth over the side of her arm, and the movement was comforting even through her winter coat.

"It's amazing I put up with you weirdos," she muttered under her breath as she reached up and cupped his jaw, gently tilting so he was better facing her. She hesitated, throwing up a silent curse at her sister, and then closed the gap and kissed Auggie.

He responded immediately, and while the kiss stayed chaste she could feel her toes curling in appreciation in her leather boots. She pulled back after a few seconds, blinking owlishly as she tried and failed to process the warmth spreading through her chest.

When she watched him lick his lips carefully she felt her stomach drop unexpectedly, but she turned and faced her sister before she could act on any compulsions. "There," she said with fake cheerfulness. "Now can we come in?"

Danielle pouted a little but let them finally step in and Annie didn't miss Michael's confused expression as he stood in the hallway, holding a half-empty bottle of chardonnay in his hand.

As they stripped out of their coats, Annie leaned over and muttered in Auggie's ear, "I think my sister thinks she's a character in a romantic comedy."

"Alcohol will do that to you," he replied, his grin crooked.

Michael stared at his wife bafflingly. "Did you make them kiss?" he asked incredulously.

Before Danielle could think of a response, he added, "You haven't made anyone else kiss under the mistletoe."

Auggie chuckled as Danielle continued to fumble—and fail—for a response. Annie flinched only a little when his hand settled at the center of her back. "Your sister definitely thinks she's a character in a romantic comedy."

She winced. Inhaling carefully, Annie bumped her shoulder against his and whispered, "Seriously. Sorry for Danielle's… well, whatever you want to call that back there. She's drunk."

Auggie grinned and patted her back. The way they were standing so close made her feel like they were in their own little bubble. "It's not that big of a deal," he assured her. "I've been through way worse things with some drunk people."

She smiled at the wry, joking look on his face, but there was still a bubble of nervousness churning in her body. Screw the CIA, Danielle was going to be the one that caused her early death.

"Now let's get this Christmas party on the road," he said with a wink.

* * *

"Hey… Aug?" Annie shoved the apartment door open, hefting her purse over her shoulder as she carted in a six-pack in her other hand. "I brought beer!"

"Perfect!" he called. It sounded like he was coming from the living room. "Look what I brought!"

"You _brought_ something to your… house?" she asked curiously, walking slowly and craning her neck. When she spotted him, she stopped in her tracks. "Oh my God. You found a Christmas tree."

"And decorations!" he announced cheerfully. There were three or four bags between him and the tree, and as far as she could tell they were all full of Christmas tree accoutrements.

"Wow," Annie breathed, eyebrows hiking. "When you say you're going to buy a Christmas tree, you really go all out. I should've brought more beer."

"I told you I was getting us a real Christmas tree," he replied proudly. "And we're probably not going to have a lot of time for beer, so there should be more than enough."

Annie smiled, crossing the room and dropping the six-pack on the coffee table. "Good," she said. "Now what kind of decorations did you get?"

Auggie picked up two bags and handed them over to her, and then turned back to the tree like he was observing it. He didn't look any different than usual, in a dark gray sweater and jeans, but she couldn't help appreciate him a little more than before. Impressive, because she already appreciated him about 50 times more than everyone else on the planet.

She delicately picked through the bags, confusion marring her pretty face as she noticed the commonality among the contents. The two bags were entirely full of ornaments. "They're all white and silver," she said, the unspoken question on her lips.

"Yup," he replied, picking up the other bag and dangling it. "I figured they'd go nicely with the lights."

Catching sight of the bag, she gently set the other two on the couch and reached over, snagging it from his fingers. He had bought two boxes of the little Christmas lights, but it was the label on the box that made smile light up her whole face. "You got the multicolored ones," she said, looking up at him with unadulterated glee.

"I did agree to multicolored lights," he answered, edging closer to her side. "I'm assuming from the sound of your voice this means you like them."

"Yes, they're perfect," she replied. Acting on a compulsion, she leaned up and brushed her lips against his cheek. She blushed a little at the impulsive move, but turned her attention back to the cardboard boxes. "And I'm sure they'll be very pretty with the white and silver ornaments."

"That's what I'm hoping," he said brightly, and she noticed that there was a similar flush spreading across his cheeks as well. "You know, from what I remember of Christmas tree decorating. And colors."

Her smile twisted slightly at the flippant remark, but she was quickly distracted by the final bag on the floor, resting closest to the tree. "Hey, what's in that last one?"

At her question, Auggie's eyes started to twinkle, but it wasn't until that Cheshire cat grin appeared that she knew she was going to have a problem. "That's something I thought you'd like," he responded, and when he winked she actually felt her stomach drop.

"How is it that that sentence just filled me with so much dread?" she asked quizzically, trying to peek around him as he walked over and picked the last bag up.

"Hey, that's not nice," he chided. "And I happen to think you'll like it. If I remember correctly it should look quite nice on the tree."

Annie's eyes were still narrowed, but she did want to know what else he had bought for them. "Did you get a tree-topper?" She hoped he bought an angel—that's what they had one their tree, and she always thought it was prettier than a star.

"That's one place we can put it," he replied evasively, digging through the bag and pulling out his final gift. When he finally presented the object, it took several seconds longer than she expected for her to recognize it.

It wasn't until Auggie held it over their heads and winked _again_ that she understood what the white berries and dark green leaves tastefully tied with a bright red bow really were.

"Merry Christmas," he said proudly.

Annie paused for about a second, long enough for her jaw to drop open. And then she reacted impulsively. He was close enough that he didn't have much of a warning when she took a step and tackled him into the couch.

Auggie let out an, "_oof!_" as she knocked the breath out of him, but she didn't relent, pinning him to the couch before he could react. "You asshat!" she exclaimed, slapping his shoulder angrily.

Kind of breathlessly, Auggie laughed at her rage. She was going to hit him again, but she felt the muscles under her shift and contract, and suddenly she was on the floor on her back with him hovering over her. She expelled the air through her lungs as she blinked dazedly. How the fuck had he done that?

"You know, Annie, it's not nice to call people asshats," he teased. "I thought you'd like my gift."

Auggie was lying between her legs, and she knew she could knee him if she really wanted. She wasn't truly angry with him enough to cause real damage, just embarrassed at Danielle's stupid drunken attempt at playing matchmaker. She wanted to joke with Auggie about it, but every time she tried words failed her.

She huffed and shifted and noted the way he adjusted his grip on her wrists accordingly. She wasn't going anywhere. "You weren't nice for making fun of me with that stupid mistletoe," she replied.

Auggie cocked his head to the side, his sightless eyes dancing with mischief. "Now who said I was making fun of you?" he asked, and her eyebrows drew together in confusion. He dipped his head down and all of a sudden she found herself kissing him once more.

Except it was the other way around because he was the one kissing her, she reckoned. Her eyes slid shut of their own volition, her jaw tilting up. When he gently pulled her bottom lip into his mouth, a throaty noise escaped the back of her throat.

Just when she expected him to deepen the kiss, he pulled away, breaking their closeness and releasing her wrists. Her eyes opened slowly, dazed by the sudden display of affection. Yes, he had bought the mistletoe, but she hadn't actually expected him to—

"There," he said, and if he hadn't still been about a half an inch from her face she probably would've missed the tiniest flicker of nervousness before a very satisfied smile slid onto face. "Now how 'bout we start Christmas tree decorating?"

Carefully, he extricated himself from her, and it wasn't until he helped her up that she felt back to normal. Sort of. She wasn't quite sure what possessed him to cross that line once more, much less why she secretly enjoyed it so much. This was going to require a lot of serious thought when she got back home.

"That sounds like a wonderful plan, actually," Annie replied, keeping her hand tight in his and squeezing. This mistletoe thing had brought something between them that she wasn't sure what to call, but she had a feeling it was a sign of good things to come.

Auggie grinned wide, and then winked. "Great. Now let's get started."

$4$

This was fun. I like to write seasonal pieces, and it's been a while since I've tried my hands at one. This was just fluffy and Christmas-y and fun. Most people listen to Christmas music after Thanksgiving; I write Christmas-themed fics.

I have no doubt every one that happens to celebrate Christmas has some pretty different ideas on the subject of fake trees. We've had one for over the last decade, but we also happen to own two dogs and two cats, and trust me when I say that majorly factors into tree decision-making.

But that's just my little anecdote. I hope you guys have great holidays, whatever you happen to celebrate! :D


End file.
